Government to soften blow of energy tariffs on business

An agreement has been reached between the government and the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry to support commercial entities facing serious difficulties as a result of the hike in energy tariffs.

No figures were divulged but the scheme would go beyond those already outlined in the Budget for 2010, the Chamber said yesterday.

It said that after talks, the Ministry of Finance was willing to support commercial entities facing serious difficulties following the hike.

The talks were held "away from the limelight and cameras" with Finance Minister Tonio Fenech, the resources authority and Malta Enterprise. It described the talks as difficult due to the breadth of enterprises it represented.

"The agreement for the manufacturing sector was the first to be finalised because it could be targeted at a relatively small number of companies. However, when it came to all the other businesses represented, most of which are micro-enterprises, things became tougher," the Chamber said.

However, it said it managed to secure assistance for micro-enterprises too. This assistance went "beyond the important support-measures that were announced in the 2010 Budget Speech by way of tax credits on new investments, access to micro credits and extended Malta Enterprise ERDF-financed schemes".

Chamber president Helga Ellul told members the organisation agreed that such assistance would be channelled in line with the existing framework that had been successful since it was set up early last year.

It was also agreed that all assistance would be granted subject to the necessary evaluation process as had been the case with the manufacturing industry in 2009.

"This is an important development that will continue to help protect jobs, investment and future growth" the Chamber said, adding it would continue to engage with the authorities on a technical and administrative level for the implementation of other mitigating measures, including the extension of the night-tariffs scheme.

The Chamber's director general, Kevin Borg said the mechanism used would be the same as that applicable to other schemes and would assess businesses' claims individually. In this way, "aid would be given only to businesses that would suffer as a direct consequence of the utility tariffs".

He said the final decision would be the prerogative of the task force that had been set up for the purpose and decisions would be made "on a case by case basis, not on a whole sector".

The Chamber urged the government to open a structured and holistic dialogue on the sustainability of energy generation.