Frustration levels are rising for people who realised that being issued electricity bills more frequently means materially higher charges owed to ARMS, the state's water and electricity billing company.
A series of stories have been published by The Malta Independent showing how, despite most people believing the different rates of electricity charged for the respective consumption are calculated on an annual basis, they are really chopped up per day. This is made possible on the strength of a legal notice which dictates that consumption is calculated on a cumulative, annual basis but may also be charged 'pro rata'.
Neville Zammit, who has a Master's degree in environmental economics has put together an ARMS scenario graphic to mathematically show how being billed more frequently when consumption varies throughout the year is having a direct and material impact on the amount charged.
ARMS charges 10c5 for the first 2,000 units consumed, 13c for the next 4,000 units, 16c for the next 4,000 units after that, 34c for the next 10,000 units and 60c for anything consumed after.
The unit quotas are chopped up per day, and rationed based on the number of days a particular bill covers. This leaves consumers with 5.457 units per day at 10c5, 10.989 units per day at 13c, and so on. Receiving a bill which covers the short period of two months during a high consumption period means that as a consumer, you will use up the cheap units very quickly and move on to more expensive units, despite not having consumed the full 2,000 units at 10c5.
Those who consume electricity smoothly, that is not in spikes and dips, will not notice a large discrepancy in their bills. Those of us who consume in spikes and dips are paying more without the possibility of a rebate.
In Zammit's scenario, a whopping difference of €672 was calculated at the end of the year, which should be rebated at the end of the calendar year.
He comments that the relevant legal notice "specifies the rate bands per year but allows them to be used on pro-rata basis".
"As can be seen from the graphic, in Scenario 1 the household is hitting the 60c/unit rate band in the peak months, but more than compensates for it in the shoulder months where not even the 34c is reached.
"If the same household was billed per year as in Scenario 2, the same consumption would never reach the annual rate band of 60c/unit.
"Therefore the household, at the end of the year should be offered a rebate of €672, or at least offered the option to pay their bill on an annual basis."
The eco-contribution has not been considered for simplicity's sake, but is an issue which will be tackled in tomorrow's edition of The Malta Independent on Sunday.
from The Malta Independent https://ift.tt/2HCqulY
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