An elderly man’s account has been debited almost €2,500 for a water and electricity bill that stretches back 25 years for a residence he says is not his.

In 1995, Kenneth Scifo, 76, of Qawra, started to receive utility bills for an address that he neither owned nor signed for, he told Times of Malta.

Since then, he has lost count of the number of times he has called Enemalta and, later, ARMS, Ltd to get his name removed from the bill. In the meantime, the arrears accumulated to €2,470.30.

“At first, when I started receiving the bills, I thought it was an honest mistake that could be fixed quickly. I called Enemalta and told them I had never even heard of the residence,” he said.

“But they just continued to say they would take care of it and never did.”

He and his wife even met with an Enemalta official, who assured them the problem would be addressed.

“At that meeting, she told me she would see to it that my name was taken off the bill and I thought the problem would end there. But then I started to receive the bills again,” he said.

The long saga has caused him untold anguish and constant worry that his electricity was going to be cut off.

“I just want this to end. I have high blood pressure and no one should have to deal with this,” he said.

Since 1995, Kenneth Scifo has been receiving water and electricity bills for a residence that he neither owned nor signed for. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

He explained that, over the years, he started to ignore the bills. When, two weeks ago, a judicial letter was sent with the address of the residence in question on it he ignored it too.

ARMS Ltd had sent a judicial letter requesting payment. The law (under section 166A) states that when a judicial letter is sent for payment of debt and the respondent does not reply within 30 days, that claim becomes an executive title, Scifo’s lawyer,  Robert Piscopo said.

They took money that I never owed

So, since Scifo did not reply, the ARMS claim was rendered executive and final, giving them the right to debit his account of the sum they claim he owes them, Piscopo said.

Scifo said he realised the money had been debited from his account at the end of August and immediately went to a lawyer about it.

He also explained that, since he could not understand Maltese (he is Maltese brought up in England), he provided his signature to the postman acknowledging receipt of the letter.

While he says it was an oversight on his part, he insists he should not have had to be dealing with this problem for so long, especially after having tried to solve it repeatedly.

“I have lost sleep and have worried about this for so long, trying to fix this with Enemalta and then ARMS directly. It’s not right that at 76 I should be dealing with this,” he said.

Times of Malta searched the street for the residence he is being billed for, ‘Morning Glory, Triq il-Maskli, San Pawl il-Baħar’, but could not find it.

ARMS passed Scifo from one person to another 

In response to questions, ARMS CEO Nikita Zammit Alamango said they were trying to get to the bottom of this case.

“Unfortunately, it was never brought to my attention before. Furthermore, Mr Scifo did not reply to the judicial letter sent by ARMS within the stipulated timeframe according to law, which would have avoided further legal procedures,” she said.

However, Times of Malta viewed the last email Scifo sent to ARMS credit control in November 2020 explaining the problem.

The email was followed by a thread of emails by ARMS representatives where he was passed on from one person to another.

Scifo pointed out this had been going on for the last 25 years.

“Not only did they take all that money that I never owed from my account, I now have to pay for a lawyer to try get my money back for a mistake they made,” he said.