Only a few people affected by ARMS Eco Reduction glitch, Miriam Dalli insists
Alex Borg maintains that only those who spotted the mistake were refunded
People who were affected by an ARMS system error that led to them missing out on the Eco Reduction for more than a year numbered in the hundreds and not the thousands as claimed by the Nationalist Party, according to Energy Minister Miriam Dalli.
The Eco Reduction is a discount applied to residential electricity bills for households that use electricity below a set threshold. The reduction, which can amount to up to 25 per cent, is based on the number of people registered on the electricity account and is intended to reward households that are prudent in their energy consumption.
On Friday, the PN claimed that a fault in the ARMS system meant the Eco Reduction was not being calculated or displayed on affected bills, depriving families of a discount they were entitled to receive. ARMS rejected the accusations, insisting the claims were "unfounded" and that the issue had been solved over a year ago.
Speaking to journalists on Monday, Dalli confirmed there had been a fault, while insisting that only a few hundred people had been affected by the issue, and that it had now been solved.
“The affected bills were identified and ARMS saw to it that everyone was refunded down to the last cent in the space of a few weeks,” she said, adding that if anyone still had an issue they should contact ARMS as soon as possible.
Dalli did not say how long she had known about the issue.
At a press conference later on Monday, Opposition leader Alex Borg rejected Dalli’s claim that the issue had been solved, stating that bills that were issued based on meter readings from November still had the discount missing.
“We have correspondence from ARMS that shows thousands have been affected, and that unless people notified ARMS about the issue, they were not refunded,” he said, while calling on the Office of Consumer Affairs to investigate the matter.
The issue, Borg said, stemmed from the fact that Dalli had appointed people to the ARMS board based not on their competence but on their political allegiance.
“Several competent people in ARMS have resigned, and so we end up with these mistakes,” he said.