Government welcomes Eurostat figures on utility bills

The government has welcomed Eurostat figures that show that the drop in utility bills has given Maltese people some peace of mind.

In a statement issued earlier today, the government pointed out that Malta saw the greatest drop in electricity bills ever in this past year.

“Electricity bills dropped by 26.2%, whereas bills increased by an average of 2.9% in other European member states,” the statement reads, pointing out that the highest rise was seen in France with 10.2%.

The government said that Malta now has the third lowest electricity prices amongst EU countries.

“On average, Maltese families pay around €12.47 per 100 kilowatts of energy they consume. This is greatly contrasting with the rest of the EU, where the average is €20.79 per 100 kilowatts or 67% higher than the local levels,” the statement continues pointing out that the priciest bills are seen in Denmark with €30.35 per 100 kilowatts.

“During the same period in 2012, under the previous administration, electricity cost €16.80 per 100 kilowatts, which is 26% more than it does today.”

Moreover, the statement adds that under the previous administration, the price of electricity in the country was the fifteenth highest in the EU.

“In two years, the country managed to move up eleven spots in the ranking towards the cheapest prices in the EU,” the statement continues.

The statement also pointed out that Eurostat had shown that throughout the previous administration, electricity bills had risen by 68%.

“During that time, Europe was seeing a small rise of 26%, which confirms that the Nationalist government had increased electricity prices three times more than European averages. The Labour government has reduced prices by 26% when prices in the rest of Europe rose by 6.4%.”

The government said that such figures prove how responsible the policies of the current administration had been particularly in the energy sector.

“Whereas the government was constantly saying that families needed to get used to sky high bills, and used to call the current government’s plan to drop prices a ‘gimmick’. It is now clear that this plan has worked and that it was bearing the desired fruit.”

The statement added that official figures were also eliminating doubts expressed by opposition leader Simon Busuttil.

“The government is looking forward to pursuing its policies for families and increasing the optimism and dynamism of the country’s economy.”