Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1104601
19 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 14 APRIL 2019 Mikiel Galea Prospective rise in energy prices WITH reference to the article "Next Government will see electricity prices rise again" published on Sunday 7 April, firstly the information is being extracted from a plan which is still in draft form and represents only one of many possible scenarios intended for public consultation and for providing a basis for further discussions at local and EU level. The final plan shall update assump- tions on gas prices to reflect more re- cent data which leads to lower project- ed prices, as well as include a sensitivity analysis to cater for different future possible outcomes. Secondly, the electricity price in- dicated in the draft plan refers to the wholesale price, which is the average price expected to be paid by Enemalta for electricity, and is not necessarily reflected in the retail tariffs which is the price paid by the final consumer. To note, Malta implements a regime of regulated tariffs which has effectively protected the consumer from interna- tional price variations since 2014. Most importantly, the projections do not take into consideration any potential advantageous commercial agreements which Enemalta may enter with suppliers of natural gas to secure competitive prices in the future, and in particular once the gas pipeline be- tween Malta and Sicily is in place. En- emalta ensures that the most economic source of electricity is dispatched. This flexibility shall be enhanced once the pipeline is completed. We would also like to draw the atten- tion to the fact that the proxy for the market price in 2011 was 11c/kWh and not 12c/kWh as quoted in the article. In short, by no means should the analy- sis performed in the draft national plan be interpreted as predicting an increase in consumer electricity tariffs. Charmaine Craus, Ministry for Energy HSBC case YOUR readers have been left wonder- ing why HSBC has not availed itself of its right of reply to my damning letter published in your 24 March edition, which was undoubtedly read by HS- BC's directors, senior management and lawyers; considering that it was also carried concurrently on Il-Mument, The Malta Independent On Sunday, Sunday Times of Malta and on It-Tor- ca's 31st March issue. This shortcoming becomes even more significant when seen in the light of HSBC's similar failing to respond publicly to no less than twelve letters, that had also been published on the local press some twelve months ago, accusing it, amongst other things, of failing to accept responsibility for the injury in question. Surely an institution that spares no expense in endeavouring to promote the public's trust should have grabbed this opportunity to openly respond, if its conduct in this case was beyond reproach and yet HSBC has remained silent; thereby tacitly confirming the veracity of my claims that the bank was untruthful in not just one, but unbelievably, three aspects laid down in its official reply to mine, transmitted through the law courts. I reiterate that HSBC is not being honest in maintaining that the wrist crush injury its Deposit Machine caused me, was a result of simultane- ous use of its ATM and Deposit Ma- chine, or misuse of the latter and this is borne out by the CCTV footage that the bank holds and still conveniently refuses to provide me with a copy of. Moreover, HSBC falsely stated that I had not passed on copies of relative medical certificates relating to this seri- ous injury (unscrupulously described as a mere "abrasion" by the bank) and has repeatedly refused to officially retract these glaringly fallacious statements. From where I stand, HSBC's talk about "Banking being a business built on trust" is worthless, as its attempts to cover up the truth and its inability to publicly and effectively rebut the weighty accusations of breach of trust I have been levelling against it, says it all. As already stated in my previous contribution "Trust can only be gained through honesty". HSBC's administra- tion should be ashamed of itself. Jean-Pierre Azzopardi, Swieqi Letters & Clarifications