Agreement on fuel surcharge capping for hotels

The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association said yesterday an agreement was reached with the government over the capping of the fuel surcharge applied to water and electricity bills. The agreement provides for a capping scaled in relation to the electricity bills of hotels of different sizes.

However, the MHRA expressed its disappointment that the government did not accept its efforts to negotiate a similar agreement on behalf of restaurants. The capping agreement was reached after negotiations between the MHRA and the Minister for Investment, Industry and Information Technology, Austin Gatt.

While providing Enemalta with the relative revenue projected from this measure, the agreement distributes the burden on the hotel industry in a more equitable manner, the MHRA explained.

The government had announced in the budget for 2005 that the fuel surcharge on water and electricity consumption in respect of factories and hotels would not be more than Lm5,000 annually.

MHRA president Justin Zammit Tabona said that while the measure in itself remained an added cost burden on the industry, the agreed distribution had rationalised its impact.