ARMS revenue from the rent and installation of electricity and water meters is steadily rising, figures published in parliament show.
The utility billing company raked in €18.5 million from such rents in 2019, €19.2 million in 2020, €19.9 million in 2021, €20.6 million in 2022 and €21.1 million last year – and that is just from the rent of electricity meters in homes.
Water meters in homes yielded another €14.4 million in 2019, €14.8 million in 2020, €15.1 million in 2021, €15.6 million in 2022 and €15.8 million in 2023.
Energy Minister Miriam Dalli provided the figures this week in reply to several parliamentary questions by PN MP Jerome Caruana Cilia.
The annual increase is mostly attributable to the rising number of housing units, as more older houses and plots of land are developed into apartment blocks.
This was confirmed in a separate PQ filed by the same PN MP, in which he asked Dalli how many meters were installed in residential and non-residential buildings every year since 2019.
More than 9,000 electricity meters were installed in 2019, another 9,000 in 2020, more than 10,000 in 2021 and in 2022 and almost 9,200 last year.
Meanwhile, between 7,100 and 7,900 new water meters were installed annually in homes since 2019.
On average, electricity meter installations alone earned ARMS an additional €3.3 million annually while water meter installations earned the company €2.4 million annually, figures tabled by Dalli show.
ARMS also raked in between €10 million and €11 million annually from the rent of electricity meters in non-residential buildings and around €4.6 million annually from the rent of water meters in the same buildings.
ARMS charges €65 a year to households for single-phase electricity meters and €195 a year for three-phase ones. Water meters cost households €59 per year. The company also rakes in some additional income from those who have electric vehicle meters at their homes.
Service charges for non-residential units are higher, ranging between €120 and €360 a year for electricity meters and costing €130 a year for water.