Alternattiva Demokratika – The Green Party is asking the government to draw up a socio-economic impact assessment before revising the costs and timing of the energy and water tariffs increase.
Arnold Cassola, Alternattiva Demokratika Chairperson, stated: “The energy increase exercise has been a totally botched one. It is no dishonour for the government to recognize its mistakes and try to amend them.”
“The government should get around the negotiating table with all social partners, commission a socio-economic impact assessment and then, on the basis of this and always with the social partners, hammer out a precise road map on the phasing out of capping for industry and on a gradual increase in fossil fuel tariffs. A socio-economic assessment will determine the basic energy use per person and household. Access to the basic amount of energy and water should be guaranteed by the state – pushing people below the poverty line by an overnight increase in prices even on the most basic amount for a decent living is unacceptable to us. We also appeal and reiterate AD’s call for investment and effective rebates on energy from renewable sources in next Monday’s budget.”
“Failure to commission a scientific socio-economic study and to draw up a road map on the way forward with the social partners will certainly justify a national protest by the social partners,” concluded Prof. Cassola.
Ralph Cassar, AD’s spokesperson for energy, industry and transport said: “We have come to this point because of the gross neglect in the electricity and water sectors for the past twenty years. The lack of investment and of planning is shameful. Taking water for instance, efforts to collect rainwater, thereby reducing the illegal extraction of ground water and the dependence on expensive and energy intensive reverse osmosis systems, have been next to nil. Ironically in a country which needs to preserve its scarce resources we have ended up with sewage purification plants which pump water into the sea instead of finding ways and means to use it for other purposes. Indeed in countries such as Singapore waste water is purified up to the levels of potable water.”
Ralph Cassar added: “The same can be said for Malta’s power plants, where low efficiency and lack of investment are the order of the day. We call for a system of tariffs which favours low energy users who should carry, proportionately, less of a burden than those who choose to live a wasteful lifestyle. We also reiterate our call for an injection of funds to families and individuals who choose to install decentralized, micro-generation systems such as photovoltaic panels and a greater push to incentivise the installation of solar-water heaters on an additional 50,000 households over the next few years. These measure, together with special off-peak energy tariffs and preferential rates and rebates for clean energy should take part of the burden off fossil fuel power plants. It is indeed unfortunate that this government has constantly ignored Maltese scientists and experts on the potential of renewable energy in Malta, including wind energy and photovoltaics.””
Ralph Cassar asked: “An important point to make is that utility bills for industry will be cheaper per unit than that for households, but government keeps insisting that it will go ahead and double and triple bills for households retroactively. It has chosen to find a solution just for one sector, with a gradual removing of the capping over a number of years but wants to hit households with a hefty and for a large chunk of the population, unaffordable increase in utility bills. A section of the press, namely Maltatoday has also reported that low energy users will proportionately see a heftier increase in their energy bills than high-end users. This is regressive and socially unacceptable.”
Carmel Cacopardo, AD’s spokesperson on sustainable development and local government said:”The government is giving the impression that the electricity and water tariffs issue is today’s issue. The sustainability of the electricity generation and potable water production has been an issue for the past decades but government chose to keep this issue on the backburner and only tackle it quickly and hurriedly now that the election is over and done with.” Carmel Cacopardo said:”The government through Austin Gatt and Tonio Fenech just tackled the problem in a mechanical way: a calculator exercise – no different from Alfred Sant’s government did in 1997. A responsible government would have quantified the economic and social impacts of its policies in this sector – something which it seems was not even considered. The basic amount of electricity and water for different types of household needs to be determined scientifically, together with effective mechanisms to tackle abuse of the ‘social’ amount of energy and water.The greater burden should be carried by those who waste energy and water.”