The latest in a long list of attempts by the government to use its power of incumbency has come in the form of a letter.

Over the past weeks, consumers have received correspondence from ARMS Ltd, the company which is responsible for collecting money owed for use of water and electricity.

The letter informs the consumers about the amount of money they have saved since June 2021, the time when the government started to subsidise the cost of energy at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Some have been told they saved hundreds of euros, other were informed that they have saved thousands.

It also tells consumers that as from the next bill, they will be regularly informed about how much they have saved in that particular period covered by the bill they are being asked to pay. “The only difference (in the bill) is that you will be able to see exactly how much you have saved compared to what you would have had to pay if prices had been allowed to fluctuate according to international prices,” consumers are told.

The suggestion that people should be told how much they are saving was first made by Joseph Muscat in October 2022. “Government should consider sending a letter with every bill so that every family and businesses are given an indication of how much their bill would be had there not been a government intervention,” Muscat had said in a Facebook post.

The government has waited for the right time to take up the suggestion – and it is doing so on the eve of an election. How’s that for timing, Mr Prime Minister?

There is no way to confirm that the amount of “savings” indicated in each and every letter is true. And let us then not forget that what consumers are “saving” is adding €1 million per day to the country’s deficit, which has stretched our debt to close to €10 billion – that’s ten thousand million, or roughly €20,000 debt per person – which will eventually have to be paid.

What is sure is that the government is using the situation to its own advantage – the election is round the corner, and such an initiative adds to the many attempts the government has used and is using to create a feel-good factor which can only serve to its advantage.

Over the past two to three months, as the election was approaching, the government has used its power on a number of occasions in a bid to influence voters.

It has given out tax refund cheques, delaying their distribution from March to May to move them closer to the election.

It has paid out the additional COLA measure that it promised in the last budget, again a few weeks before the election to have maximum effect.

It has announced a presidential pardon to hundreds who were caught defrauding the country by pocketing social benefits they were not entitled to.

It has then also completed projects which were dragging out and which were miraculously finished in time.

And now we have this letter from ARMS.

The election will be held at the end of next week. Does the government have something else up its sleeve?