MRA not informed of Gatt’s ‘intention to go public’
Charlot Zahra
Two weeks after the revised water tariffs were scheduled to come into force, the Malta Resources Authority has not yet given its blessing to Enemalta, which through the Infrastructure Ministry - proposed the new tariffs.
While the MRA reassured this newspaper that it had started working on the proposed tariffs as soon as it received Enemalta’s proposal, a spokesperson for the authority told Business Today that they had not been notified of the press conference addressed by Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt held days before the 1 April date which he announced for the tariffs to come into force.
“The Malta Resources Authority was not informed by Enemalta Corporation of its intention to go public with its proposed tariffs,” the MRA spokesperson told Business Today.
“MRA will of course make public its findings and assessments immediately once these are concluded,” the MRA spokesperson told Business Today.
She added that the authority was “in the process of establishing a formal procedure for submission by operators of requests for approval of tariffs”.
The Ministry’s press conference had announced a proposed reduction of 4c2 per kilowatt hour (kWh) for a single-person household.
Gatt said the revisions represented an average reduction of 22 per cent in residential tariffs and would come into effect on 1 April.
The proposed reductions were based on Enemalta’s projected cost base for 2009, which had been revised downwards to €159 million from €223 million at the beginning of the year.
Under the proposed tariffs, the first 2,000 kWh of electricity consumption would be charged at 11c9 per kWh as opposed to the current rate of 16c1 per kWh.
The next 4,000 kWh up to 6,000 kWh would then be charged at 13c4 per kWh, a reduction of 3c9 from the current tariff, while consumption between 6,001 kWh and 10,000 kWh would be charged at 15c2 per kWh, a reduction of 3c7 per kWh from the current tariff.
There would be no reduction in the rates for consumption in excess of 10,000 kWh and 20,000 kWh, which would remain at 20c9 per kWh and 23c2 per kWh respectively.
Under the proposed tariffs, the service charge and the eco-reduction mechanism would remain the same.
