PN files motion seeking consumer compensation for overcharged utility bills since 2014

A new utility billing system that ensures consumers benefit fully from unutilised cheap units should be backdated to January 2014, the Nationalist Party is proposing.

PN MPs presented a parliamentary motion to amend the legal notice introduced by the government last month so that its effects are backdated to 2014 rather than just January 2022.

“The motion wants to ensure that consumers are refunded all money that was stolen from them through the utility billing system when bills started being issued every two months,” the PN said.

This will ensure that whoever paid extra will be refunded without the need to open a court case, the party added.

Last month, Energy Minister Miriam Dalli announced changes to the 2009 legal notice regulating how utility bills are calculated. Under the new regime, consumers will no longer lose unutilised units on the lower bands, a decision that would save household consumers up to €8 per year.

The new rules are backdated to January this year and adjustments will be reflected in the utility bills being issued now. However, the government has refused suggestions that consumers should be compensated for overcharging in the previous eight years when the bi-monthly billing system started being implemented.

The PN has insisted consumers should be compensated for past overcharging, a bill understood to reach some €50 million across all consumers.

The PN motion was presented to the Speaker by MPs Mark Anthony Sammut, Ryan Callus, David Agius and Karol Aquilina.