Update 2 | PN insists on ‘blatant fuel theft’, government says data flawed

The Opposition has called on the government to immediately reduce fuel prices in Malta, insisting that it would not rest until the government put an end to the “blatant theft.”

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil today said that countries like Poland were charging just 94c per litre of diesel and 92c per litre of petrol as international oil prices. As a result, he said, Maltese families and businesses were officially paying 50c and 41c more than the Poles for every litre of petrol and diesel.

Malta is currently experiencing one of the EU’s highest rates of fuel prices, including VAT and excise duty. But the energy ministry insists that these prices reflect hedges and costs, and that Enemed, the government petroleum distributor, is not making any substantial profit margins on the price.

But the government is claiming that the PN’s “fictitious and mistaken” figures are based on incorrect data from the energy.eu website, and petrol and diesel prices in Poland were in fact €1.02 per litre.

International price of oil, January 2015 [Source: PN]

Price of diesel and petrol in Malta, 22 January 2015 [Source: PN]

Energy.eu uses data sampling from a number of respondents from each EU country, which it deems "sufficient to produce a weighted average price figure". The database, EnergyEdge, requires data input from a minimum number of its respondents before price assessment is calculated for an EU state. In case the threshold is not reached, respondents are approached via e-mail and asked submit data.

Malta's price is based on 28 respondents, while Poland's price was based on 75 samples. The government said that the PN wrongly based its information on the privately-owned website, and not on official EU statistics. It said that the Opposition’s figures are based on a test carried out on 75 samples, while the information of the European Commission is based on the official statistics of each respective member state.

However, in what has emerged as a tit-for-tat battle between the government and the opposition, shadow minister for energy Marthese Portelli insisted that even if the opposition were to base its calculations on Muscat’s figures, the prices of petrol in Poland were still substantially lower than in Malta.

“Instead of providing an explanation to justify one of the highest fuel prices in Europe, Joseph Muscat has instead opted to discredit the PN’s source of information,” Portelli said.

Moreover, the PN spokeswoman underlined that the website in question updates the prices of fuel on a daily basis and that it also serves as a point of reference for several energy companies.

“Even if the fuel prices are based on Joseph Muscat’s figures, it is clear that the governemnt is carryign out a blatant theft at the expense of the Maltese families,” she added.

Earlier, the governemnt said that the PN’s “incorrect” information was “renewed proof of its incompetence.”

“The Opposition’s silence in parliament yesterday and its mistaken statement clearly show that these prices do not exist anywhere in the European Union. The government is instead extending its invite for the opposition to name one country in the EU where the fuel prices are equivalent to those it is proposing,” the government argued.