What sort of sucker do you have to be to vote for Labour’s VAT/CET plan on water and electricity?
I read the report on timesofmalta.com about the beef Labour finally served up this morning, and thought, my God, you really have to be a sucker to be taken in.
Even on paper the whole thing looks crazy. It’s not just the plan which is nuts and based on too many variables and hypothetical scenarios, but the timeframe is totally at odds with people’s heightened expectations.
The way the Labour Party has been talking, we vote Labour into government on 9 March, and by April at the latest our water and electricity rates will be slashed.
The Labour Party has been careful not to give a schedule or timeframe. It has not said ‘Vote Labour for cheaper water and electricity bills in 2013’. But through the Orwellian use of language, that is exactly what it has implied, and what suckers have understood.
Yet it is immediately clear to anybody with half a brain, from what was ‘revealed’ this morning, that the price slash is dependent on a hugely lengthy process that involves tendering among the private sector, building a whole ruddy power station, changing over the existing system and negotiating with various stakeholders. This means that the five years of the upcoming legislature will have gone by before they can even think of lowering prices.
What is crazier still about this wild promise is that it is a promise made on behalf of others who will not want to deliver and who have no obligation to do so. If you are transferring responsibility for power supply to the private sector, you can’t tell the private sector how to price what it is selling.
I am not left breathless by the insanity of this proposal based on a whole series of ifs and buts and maybes, conditions from which you can never have certainty or make a promise. I am used to that, with Labour, because I’ve been around a bit.
No, what leaves me breathless is the craziness of the people who believe this rubbish, who have faith in fools. Yes, even though I’ve been around a bit people’s desperation to believe in what they want to believe, including religious sects and their lying boyfriends, will always amaze me. We’ve all been vulnerable to some of that at points in our lives, but really, how stupid do you have to be to get suckered by this.
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“…how stupid do you have to be to get suckered by this.” – Well, Daphne… you just have to look around you and see how many children are running around with stupid names (bestowed upon them by some illiterate dimwit parent with an IQ less than that of a Neanderthal)…. I know it’s hard to believe, but alas, it’s these sorts who’ll fall for something like this.
Lejber should be entered in the wiki site as
” reductio in absurdum”
Why is Joseph Muscat saying he will assume ”PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY”?
He simply cannot. Full stop.
he doesn’t have Eur 367,000,000 to pay back for the financial disaster he’s putting the country in. He will simply resign and throw Malta into the middle ages.
Once bitten twice shy … but unfortunately there are a lot of dumbasses around.
The PL needs to explain the “fixed prices for 10 years” better. In today’s climate, even fixed prices for 10 months is risky.
No one from the private sector would sign up to this. In 10 years oil prices might be 10 times what they are today.
Unless, by fixed prices the PL means “international oil price plus a fixed percentage on top of that.”
As far as I’m concerned, it’s all gas.
You are criticizing Labour about this plan but have not criticized the PN when they changed the emissions law to accommodate BWSC? Are you serious? The plan looks professional and well studied. Thus, if there is a source of profit for the private sector, be it that in the energy sector we have a natural monopoly, then I am sure the private sector will come across as the invisible hand that regulates the market. But then you lost all your credibility. You want us to believe that the private sector will not come forward because Daphne has been so many years around that she knows for sure. By the same argument that means that you predict and not foresee the future, like a sort of psychic power witch, which also confirms what they have been saying about you. It is a good present for you epiphany birthday. Have a good day. Gonzi is not credible unlike EFA
‘..Thus, if there is a source of profit for the private sector, be it that in the energy sector we have a natural monopoly, then I am sure the private sector will come across as the invisible hand that regulates the market….’
Oh no you don’t, if it has to be liberalised, then I’ll sign up to a provider across the channel. I’ll have the right as soon as the interconnector is in place.
Do you realise Joseph can’t sign anything for ten years, given that he’s basically enforcing a cartel.
Maybe that’s why the interconnector’s in the way. Why, Konrad thinks Jaws may bite into it.
They must have already someone in mind because as you said, it takes long to issue the tender, review the tender, issue the contract, do the study and then start building the new power station.
Will they go and protest and burn trucks and tractors like they did when the Delimara power station began to be built?
Where are the mayors of Marsaxlokk and Birzebbugia – have they gone into hiding? They are going to have another power station on their doorstep with Labour’s plans.
This is exactly the same as Sant’s VAT/CET. And they still won’t tell us where the money’s coming from.
I suggest you check the (bad) Maltese version of who is Konrad Mizzi on his website here:
http://www.konradmizzi.com/p/min-hu-konrad-konrad-mexxa-progetti.html
If this guy can’t even write in Maltese, are we going to trust him with the future of Malta’s economy?.
Irrespective of what you wrote, the whole thing makes sense and it will surely work out.
( coming to think of it,you would have written the same article,even if the proposal was completly different)
On the contrary to what you say that it is based on “ifs and buts” one can tell that the whole thing was thorourghly worked out by persons who know what they are saying.
I’m certain that if the public are asked to invest in this project,they will be eager to comply.
May I remind you that there were no “Ifs and Buts” in the case of the Arriva,but on the contrary it was sold to us as something sent from Heaven.
Now we are reaping the fruits of that stroke of geniuse.
On the other hand if you and some others think that it will not work,you can always choose to keep on paying at the present rates. That I’m sure will be very patriotic.
“If you are transferring responsibility for power supply to the private sector, you can’t tell the private sector how to price what it is selling.”
Unless you use the Mintoff system. You know the one. Need a bank? ‘Protect’ the investors and take one over.
The Maltese word is MAZZUN. One has to have the mouth and throat of a very big Mazzun (gudgeon in English) to bite and swallow such a gargantuan bait.
Daphne, with all due respect, I think we are all missing the wood for the trees.
Those who are prone to turncoat and vote Labour are doing it out of vengeance. Maybe they may feel deprived of what they thought they would get from the PN, but what guarantee do they have that their expectations will be met by Labour?
The trouble is that they will have to wait for at least 5 years to realize that a vote for Labour is nothing short of wrapping a noose around their necks.
You are so right!
If Labour fool enough people to get elected, then I am going to try faith-healing full-time.
Roll up, roll up, suckers.
How soon after your meeting with Galea Curmi did you publish this post?
[Daphne – I have never met the man in my life. Hard to believe, isn’t it? That’s because you live on a diet of Labour propaganda.]
This morning while in Valletta I met a couple of MLP supporters, acquaintances, who could hardly look me in the face because what they thought was their main weapon turned out to be completely different to what they expected. No longer are they saying, ”din id-darba nohduhilkom”.
“[…] the plan […] is nuts and based on too many variables and hypothetical scenarios”
That’s what a consultant is paid for.
Any comments from Eddy Privitera now?
[Daphne – I don’t think he’s noticed I’m back on line.]
You’re absolutely right, Daphne, because only fools swallow such rubbish and this childish way of doing politics.
Muscat and his PL have been blowing hot-air balloons and pulling the legs of all those who believed them all the way through the last nearly five years.
I have also been waiting for these grand proposals and really wondering whether there could be a stone left unturned by the Nationalist Government while devising and implementing policy in this sector.
For the Nationalist government had and still HAS an energy policy that is being kept updated. Natural or liquefied (LNG) for power generation has been on the books for at least a decade but the cost of conversion of power plants and the infrastructure needed (whether pipeline or storage tanks and berthing facilities) have been prohibitive so far (our total consumption is very small indeed) and hence the awaited funding from EU programmes – for these have to be factored in any cost base in the form of cost of capital and its life span when working tariffs.
Anyone with basic knowledge in the utility sector in Malta and abroad would know that and also know that while the utility seeks the lowest financing cost – be it own funds or from public or private lenders – regulatory accounting requires that the utility accounts/accrues for replacement cost for the end of the useful life of the new infrastructure.
And this seems to be one point that is being so evidently overlooked.
The PL proposals for energy production may be good, so good that it has been already thought of by the Nationalist government. But the financing and its cost that must be factored in the tariffs is a wish lis, unless they are banking on support from the EU for the pipeline or LNG facilities – something that the PN government has been working upon as the various ministers responsible for energy have been saying along the years.
Lower energy and water tariffs… my foot! I would have expected better from the high profile candidates within the PL – the likes of economists Grech and Scicluna…
daphne tkomplix bil hanqa ta hmara
Call me stupid, but how does one generate electricity if the plants are being dismantled and converted at the same time?
‘….Consultant Thomas Leonard said a new 200MW gas-fired plant would replace the old Delimara power station (the phase 1) and the new BWSC unit would be converted to work on gas….’
Are they saying they’ll have to rely on Marsa when the works proceed? If there’s one thing which gives me the heebie jeebies it’s engineering turned into some glorious political promise. This thing could take years, and no amount of posturing will get us there if the idea is to rebuild electricity generation from scratch.
Then there’s the minor detail of the contractor aware of the client at his mercy.
A regassification plant and storage tanks as the ‘preferred option’ are another weird combo, That’s basically going to double the requirements given the logistical risks, not to mention the mandatory economies of scale.
What size of plant results into convenient prices?
Surely Mizzi knows his plants, the ones I’ve seen are sized to process much larger quantities.
In other words opting for the most expensive and potentially damaging option simply to play safe with an electoral promise, including, I suspect deliberately, an inbuilt strategy for total autonomy and excessive generation.
Whoever intends to invest will look at the inteconnector as a two way system demanding certain commercial benefits from government. I’m sure this detail has been taken into account.
Wild plan indeed. What has Joseph sold out without our knowledge?
I am worried that Sargas or some other company is giving money to Labour to push their product. Is this where all their campaign money is coming from?
Sadly, there’s no way for us to find out. Maybe, just maybe, Franco Debono wasn’t totally off his rocker with his proposals.
I totally agree. Was discussing the same with my collegue at work and just saw what we were saying over here. Nothing will be reduced – all bull.
My previous comment refers. Apart from the financing costs – it MUST also be borne in mind that since the market knows that natural gas is a substitute for other petroleum products, the price of the gas is indeed ‘tagged’ with the substitute fuels and has been for many years so when one adds the actual cost of product plus the true financing cost of infrastructure we would end up with higher tariffs and NOT LOWER.
Labour keeps insisting on outdated politics by promising the ‘fish’ and not the ‘fishing rod’.
What is more essential in my opinion is to create a factual operating environment where business and commercial entities can thrive creating opportunities which in natural distribution will create more opportunities.
When this happens, the price of water and electricity will become irrelevant. This is the only way to solve this issue as energy will always be governed by market prices/forces, meaning, what’s good today may not be good tomorrow.
Don’t burst the bubble – water bills slashed by a whopping 5%
And again the frog is giving the scorpion a piggy-back across the water-logged ravine on the promise that ‘no, I will not sting you, if I do, we’ll both drown’.
“What is crazier still about this wild promise is that it is a promise made on behalf of others who will not want to deliver and who have no obligation to do so. If you are transferring responsibility for power supply to the private sector, you can’t tell the private sector how to price what it is selling”
I am assuming that Labour have already discussed this whole thing with the private sector, and it’s probably going to by-pass the tendering process as well.
It’s a done deal. There’s one particular business giant in Malta that came to my mind when I was reading this morning.
http://sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/430874_389917771098832_1397679097_n.jpg
That’s what I thought too. They have to find someone who’s willing to build a power station, build the actual station, get it running, and who can say what the price of gas will be at the time?
Besides, what will make me richer? A potential 25% cut off my electricity bill, or a decrease of 10% on my income tax? Apart from all other incentives this budget was to dole out.
True, the lower earning class will not be benefiting from the decrease in the income tax ceiling, but they’ve been benefiting from less tax for 4 whole years, and they’ll be voting Labour anyway. The real floating voters and rich disgruntled Nationalists, though, need to make a couple of well-thought out calculations.
I just love this lady. I love straightfoward people and DAPHNE has got what I love most in a human being. Well done.
Have no fear because Joseph will come to the rescue.
He said he will be personally responsible for the project and the promise to deliver in the proper timeframe.
Wow, what peace of mind.
Where will the storage gas tanks be located? The proposed gas pipeline with Siciliy, which this government was planning to do, requires about 3 – 5 years to develop and will cost around 300m euros from EU funds (which have not yet been approved).
So this means that adequate storage for gas is required. Where are these going to be constructed? At Delimara maybe? ie Marsaxlokk?
The Nationalist government was already planning to convert the power station from fuel to gas, butr this all depended upn the realisation of the pipeline. I cannot understand how Labour will do this in a year.
Stop trying.
I cannot understand how 800MW when the required is less than 450 is in any way efficient.
We just won’t give up thinking they must have a cunning plan.
Biex tara.
http://news.supermoney.eu/economia/2013/01/vivere-e-lavorare-a-malta-la-nuova-frontiera-sicura-dell-economia-007323.html?fb_action_ids=10101533147237722&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%2210101533147237722%22%3A408010949277707%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210101533147237722%22%3A%22og.likes%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D#
Praise for our island
According to the plans we were shown, the old chimney which created all the controversy with Dom Mintoff, and thanks to it was given around 1 million euros compensation, will be removed. The Mintoff daughters will get their view back. But will they refund the money they took?
Given the understanding that a set of eight PV panels would cut my electricity bill by around half, and assuming the set would cost some Eur6000 now (without grants), this would mean that a set of four such panels without the subsidy would reduce my bills by 25% and cost me Eur3000.
Labour’s proposal is estimated to cost the private sector some 2500 EUR per family, for a reduction of ‘an assumed 25%. With this in mind wouldnt it make more sense for whoever this private investor would be, to invest in a solar farm, with the prices ‘guranteed’ to remain 25% cheaper rather than depend on the assumption that gas prices would not increase?
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=136796909811772&set=a.106816092809854.16186.100004443912787&type=1&theater
Labour were gainst Independence from Britain, against joining the EU, against joining the euro zone, against the new general hospital, against the new airport and against VAT.
Yet they never apologise, never explain, and never show the slightest sign of embarrassment.
Have a bit of fun and read the Labour elves’ comments on The Times web page when the PM announced last November that the Dellimara power station would eventually be converted to gas.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20121112/local/new-gas-plant-inaugurated.445122
They are mentioning a decrease in production. If they go private, as they are saying, they have to include a distribution fee. Was this included in the permutation?
I wonder who will be getting the commission this time round.
This plan sounds like one of those farmhouse conversions taking forever, the end result a mishmash of glass blocks, stainless steel and white pebbles surrounding blue LEDs.
Yeugh.
There are apparently quite a few suckers around. Too depressing for words.
Does the General Workers Union agree with Labour’s plan for Enemalta and the private power station? Hasn’t it been spreading unfounded claims against PN saying that PN is advocating the privatisation of the Delimara Station and make us slaves of a private company? Does it now back Joseph Muscat in his plan?
I think we’ve also discovered where Labour are getting all their money. They already have a contract with a company (and it’s not too difficult to guess which company and who’s their spokesperson). Imagine donating 2-3 million euros to a political party and getting back a contract worth so much more.
How is Labour proposing to fund this 300 million euro project? A new tax? A rise in VAT? Stop stipends? Stop bonuses? Decrease national feasts?
[Daphne – No, they expect a line of investors to queue up at their door. They said so, at their press conference this morning.]
Answer to the question in your last line:- Utterly and absolutely!
Guess what ?
Two months to go and you’ll be whinning that the majority of the maltese are crazy.
Looking foward for the day we don’t have to pay for someone else’s peace of mind with our tax money.
[Daphne – Whining, not whinning. Looking forward TO, not for. Peace of mind isn’t bought with taxes, because it can’t be.]
I paid for all those dockyard workers’ peace of mind with my tax money for over twenty years, thank you very much.
You know what I mean. Criticising one’s grammer is a sure way of not having something proper to reply with.
Your grammer might be good but you lack in a lot of other matters.
[Daphne – Grammar, with two As. My grammar is good precisely because I don’t ‘lack a lot in other matters’. The one derives from the other. Similarly, your grammar is poor because…And in any case, this is spelling, not grammar.]
Little Joey knows how stupid his followers are. Therefore why not put forth ridiculous proposals and snare a few more stupid floaters?
With the VAT-CET debacle still fresh in mind, it would appear that MLP/LP does not believe in “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice shame on me”.
Its updated version is “having fooled you once and having been caught out, the LP begs that, soon after, it be given the opportunity to try to fool you twice – this time with the promise of post-election cheaper utility rates that would come into effect in the dim future, perhaps during “anno mai”.
If you are stuck for examples, visit timesofmalta.com.
By the way there are over 600 million euros of unused funds that might be lost because of gonzipn’s procrastinating.
Who’s crazy my dear?
Those who would make good use of them or those who let them just disappeare?
Think before you right apparently Pieta do not give you all the info.
This Labour ‘election-winning’ gimmick has to be blown out of the sky before it is entrenched in the shallow minds of those stupid enough to believe it.
Does the PL, with all its advisers, know that to plan and build a new power station from scratch will take at least 5 years, provided no complications are uncovered in the various impact assessments that have to be carried out.
The infrastructural works for a Gas storage depot are massive and, besides the prohibitive cost, will take years to implement.
This Labour promise is worse than Sant’s VAT removal proposal, and would run the country straight into the wall, begging for a bail-out. Or does the PL think it can bypass the environmental issues and then go begging to the EU for the money to finance the project?
Or maybe they do not intend to go to tender, and risk censure by the EU, just to award it by direct order?
There are so many flaws in their proposal that need to be exposed and brought to the attention of the gullible voter. As the Panto queen would say “Unbelievit!!”
What really irks me is that 50% of the population will believe this gimmick.
A great deal of emphasis is being put on water and electricity, but a country does not function solely on the price of water and electricity.
There are so many other issues, such as education, health services, taxation, employment and much else.
Moreover, the financing of this incredible deliverable needs to be looked at.
Yep, let’s throw away our way of living for a hypothetical 25% decrease in our electricity bills.
By the way there are over 600 million euros of unused funds that might be lost because of gonzipn’s procrastinating.
Who’s crazy my dear?
Those who would make good use of them or those who let them just disappear?
Think before you write apparently Pieta do not give you all the info.
Oh, so they are 600 million Euros then.
What are you on about? Don’t you know that ”Muscat shall assume responsibility” for all this?
And what exactly will he do when he fails? Colour his hair blue?
If he would have any left!
http://sphotos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/540851_390008914423051_1792970097_n.jpg
It-tmexxija Laburista f’dan il-pajjiz dejjem kienet injoranta u hlief biex tidhaq bin-nies qatt ma’ kienet tajba.
Imma issa morna fl’estrem u nahseb mhux kirba ghall-poter ghandhom imma genn. U biex temmen progett bhal dan trid vera tkun mignun.
Min jaf ta’ min kienet din l’ideja brillanti. Il-progetti biex tghidhom u tfassalhom fuq il-karta semplici hafna izda meta tigi biex twettaqhom huwa ferm differenti.
Mela sewwa, biex inrahsu il-kontijiet ser nonqfu dawk il-flus kollha, tajjeb. imma Joseph Muscat ghandu d-dover jghid ukoll min fejn se jgib dawn il-flus u jekk ghandux garanzija li kull min hu involut fil-verita’ ser jaghmel dak li ghandu fil-kbir mohhu l-istess Joseph Muscat ghax dan qed jahseb li kull Malti huwa gidra.
Din tal-ilma u d-dawl froga kbira ohra tkun jekk Alla hares qatt jitla’ l-Labour u tkun ghar min tal-VAT.
I hope the Times have got it wrong (http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130108/local/pl-tariffs.452366) They say that “cost savings would amount to around 25 per cent in 2014”.
Now I have never built a power station, but I suspect it might take a bit longer than a year for tendering, adjudicating, dealing with unhappy bidders, construction and commissioning.
Will Labour subsidise 25% of our electricity bills in 2014 if their grand plan doesn’t work out?
Labour is going to pull the three card monte scam when it comes to supposedly lowering the price of electricity and water for the average consumer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2kO_5cNF5k
Oh, so that’s where Lembit Opik ended up. With the Moviment ta’ Jobama Muscat PL 2013, presenting the water and electricity plan.
Isa hej, anke minn barra qed jigu issa. Zommu l-kju, please.
Germany is phasing out its nuclear power stations and going to gas, to be precise Russian gas. Why not Malta?
It is feasible in the very very very long term. The biggest flaw is this private sector funding of it. Who are they? Is this another Arriva? Sure … it is GASARRIVA
Speaking of Germany, are you aware that German consumers will see their electricity going up by a massive 47% from this year?
http://www.euractiv.com/climate-environment/german-green-power-tariff-rise-4-news-515403
Mind you it’s the Greens’ fault, as they finally got their wish and got the German nuclear plants to be shut down.
That France has a massive 59 reactors, and that if heaven forbid an accident in a French reactor occurs, would effect Germany, is ignored by the tree huggers.
And the sad reality is that we have about 160,000 suckers starting with the idiots sitting behind him during his talks.
I’m now listening to Joseph on One. I’m struggling and I cannot believe what I’m hearing.
He talks as if he is in government and has led the country for the past 25 years.
What the fuck will he do and how will he act if and when he gets elected as Prime Minister, if this is what he’s doing now?
[Daphne – You should have heard him yesterday at the Valletta waterfront meeting. Apparently, he took Malta into the European Union. Oh, didn’t you know? His supporters are spreading the word already: qeghdin fl-Ewropa grazzi ghal Joseph.]
Don’t Labour supporters also believe that it was Mintoff, not George Borg Olivier, who obtained Malta’s Independence from Great Britain?
Bloodshed on TVM2: Tonio Fenech is pulverizing that smug Konrad Mizzi.
you are talking???? you have too be shame witch
Who peed in your cereal this morning, Marylyn?
Are you still ruing Joseph’s chopping Anglu’s head off?
Or maybe, how Tonio Fenech destroyed the other ‘bozza tal-elf’ called Konrad Mizzi?
“you have too be shame witch”, is proof positive of what the Labour Party is all about.
What will shame wizard do with the Malta-Sicily interconnector? He’s left it out of his grand plan. All highly suspicious.
Could it be that some genius (‘bozza ta’ l-elf Konrad) is planning to over-produce electricity and sell it back to the Sicilians through the inter-connector? Has anybody asked this question, as the proposal does not make sense otherwise.
Can we have a list of all the Hypothetical Electoral Plans Courtesy of The Electorate? I’d like to check whose guess was right on 10th March.
My own guess is that Labour will:
1) Get cheap gas from some North African/Gulf producer
2) Tailor our foreign policy to suit the producer. And turn us, once more, into the Whore of the Med.
3) Over-produce electricity by running all our power stations at full tilt, and air quality and sahha tal-poplu be damned.
4) Sell the surplus to the Sicilians at above-market prices.
Watching Bondi + and Labour’s Konrad makes me shudder. Does he expect us to believe his uncooked fantasies? No way.
Ghaziz Konrad, FORSI jirnexxilek tbellahhilu li se trahhas id-dawl imma tinsiex li qabel ma hu politiku, Tonio Fenech hu AWDITUR. Ma’ Tonio mintix se taghmel spins bin-numri.
http://news.supermoney.eu/economia/2013/01/vivere-e-lavorare-a-malta-la-nuova-frontiera-sicura-dell-economia-007323.html
Hats off to Tonio Fenech on Bondi+ – he literally smashed that Konrad Mizzi. The electricity proposal is already taking in water.
Are we really supposed to believe an energy proposal which looks more like a jackpot machine, presented to us by somebody like Konrad Mizzi?
Minister Tonio Fenech was brilliant on Bondi+ tonight.
He tore the Labour Party’s electricity tariff proposals to pieces.
I just watch Tonio Fenech and Konrad Mizzi on Bondi +.
Joseph Muscat should kick out Konrad Mizzi for making such a mess with the proposal for the reduction of the utlity tariffs.
It had to be Tonio Fenech to show him that we don’t need the new plant. Mizzi was worse than Anglu Farrugia. Prosit, Tonio.
Konrad Mizzi is dangerously delusional.
He stated that if energy prices through the interconnector result cheaper, they’ll lower Enemalta’s output to accomodate increased supply from the continent.
The investor keeps his 40% share, obviously.
Right, how about NOT getting him on board in the first place?
An agreement exists already, given the amount of constraints hinted, notwithstanding what they’ll say.
Tonio Fenech was right, whose plant is this?
What leaves me breathless is that in an island knee-deep with “Ing.”s, there hasn’t been one single scientific rebuttal of this nonsensical plan.
Energy prices will go up. That’s the second law of thermodynamics applied to a a growing population and increasing energy consumption.
The first law of thermodynamics being that the science has to make sense.
Well, no. That’s the zeroth rule of common sense.
Rumour has it that Joseph (qaxxar xaghru, wiccu ckien) Muscat will be contesting in the 13th district i.e Gozo.
He will, most probably announce this decision next Sunday, during another epic moment, in his first mass meeting in Gozo.
It’s gonna be so touching.
It would also be pertinent to ask Labour how much they have paid their foreign consultants because, lately, they have been so concerned about consultancy costs in Austin Gatt’s and Tonio Fenech’s ministries.
And has anyone quantified the commission payable on this Euro 300 million Empire Station?
My own estimate is something in the region of Euro 10 million.
Will that be going straight to the Labour party to pay for the bills of the electoral campaign?
No, just the defence lawyers.
I have the following observations to make following Konrad Mizzi’s show on Bondi Plus.
A desktop review is normally carried out as a precursor to a feasibility study, which is then the basis for stress testing various optimistic and pessimistic scenarios on which to base a pricing plan. It is not the basis on which to actually commit to a cut of 25% in electricity rates.
A PowerPoint presentation by consultants is the start of the project. A presentation should always have the detailed assumptions and normally just reflects the conclusions reached.
Business suppliers, in this case the Labour Party that is trying to sell its proposal to the electorate, will then make available to the client (the electorate), the detailed workings and assumptions.
Telling me that they paid for the consultancy and that I am not privy to the detail is criminal, when I am expected to give them my vote based on this one pivotal point.
Telling me that Joseph respected me enough to give me all the options, but not enough to allow me to verify those options is not on.
In my work life and in my private life I have dealt with enough project quotes to know that you always need to add an additional buffer of 25% to 50% on a price quoted. What buffers are there in the assumption?
In terms of timing, the time buffer is normally 100 to 200%. This both in terms of contruction and in terms of IT and systems. And no matter the penalty clauses.
Any Labour government is going to be the beggar on this given the promises made, so negotiating leeway is restricted.
Commercial sensitivities only exist when a preferred supplier is already earmarked. Has the supplier already been chosen? Are we going to find ourselves faced with some Made in China power station which risks breaking down the moment it is operational, or worse still some shortcuts in quality accepted because of time constraints?
Somehow collapsing bridges in China come to mind.
Passing gratuitous or facetious comments to your counterparty does not endear you to the average viewer. The reverse happens, and the average intelligent viewer will understand that you do not have an answer to the question.
What is going to happen after 10 years? Will we find ourselves dependent on the private sector with a price monopoly? I am a capitalist but even I see the benefit of the energy sector in an island our size being state-dependent.
Labour have given us hot air, again. Unless there exists an agreement or a letter of intent already, the ‘guarantee’ you are giving is worthless and does not stand on the basis of the presentation.
Konrad Mizzi won’t divulge the workings because, his words, some details could be ‘commercially sensitive’.
Really? Well, it’s with my money you’ll be signing that agreement. Are you really that much involved already bound to keep your mouth shut?
What utter lying, cheap freaks.
Words fail me, honestly. Lowlifes.
Time to come clean and declare what it is you intend to do with that extra capacity, because it’s damn clear you won’t let it lay idle. It’s where you think the money is.
Bet you can’t afford to have another European commissioner telling us your proposed energy speculation can’t be done on the European grid.
“Konrad Mizzi won’t divulge the workings because, his words, some details could be ‘commercially sensitive’.”
But so were the deals for the smart meters, Arriva, and BWSC, and I don’t think you gave a hoot about that because it was a PN minister who used that excuse at the time.
[Daphne – No, Qeghdin Sew, it’s because Labour are IN OPPOSITION not government. They have no democratic, constitutional or legal right to go about negotiating and striking deals with suppliers and contractors on behalf of the government of Malta, even unofficially. Surely you see the inherent dangers here? The arrangements made by the government are subject to tender. But what we have here is a possible done deal struck beforehand, in exchange for a financial leg-up into government – and more.]
Whether this energy plan is feasible or not remains to be seen, but I’m honestly impressed they bothered to back up one of their proposals with some facts for once.
I knew about smart metering, or the the pledge to reform public transport.
As for BWSC, well if you wanted Marsa to carry on, just switch the extension off.
It was always on the cards.
Convertible to gas when finances allow it. Or haven’t you seen the fuel savings?
What we have here is two months to analyse whether giving up our power generation to foreign investors who get to keep the plant, screwing our economic fundamentals, is a good idea. No questions asked.
I hope they don’t expect to bypass tendering simply because ‘we voted for it’.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried that one.
What facts? Honestly, Qeghdin Sew, if you think this whole chaos isn’t damaging any future investment in renewable sources, (how’s that for free energy?) I really don’t get your AD posing. Just ask those in business.
Remember Marlene Mizzi’s hissy fit when Sea Malta was privatised? Strategic asset bla bla, we knew that was on the cards. At least I knew.
Joseph Muscat had a done deal with Gaddafi before he (Gaddafi, not Joseph) was deposed.
Hadn’t he announced rather smugly, after flying back on Gaddafi’s private plane (the one with the gold bathroom) that he’d struck a deal for the provision of oil-energy?
jozef, re your comment
“Convertible to gas when finances allow it. Or haven’t you seen the fuel savings? ”
wouldn’t it have been better to convert the powerstation to gas instead of having a new parliament?????? please answer
that way we can have cleaner air for all…..
or is that not important?
personally if you look at it without political blinkers one would prefer cleaner air instead of a new parliament……. don’t you agree?
I give up.
Do you have to be so touchy now that Labour’s outdone GonziPN’s bridge to nowhere?
I bet you’ll be there cheering as Joseph declares parliament as another of his great achievements.
No I don’t agree. Unless you think a gas tank is truer to form.
Labour’s prize catcall was that BWSC’s pollution abatement was too expensive and complicated. Let’s scrap everthing and build from scratch shall we?
I just did a back of the envelope calculation on the cost of electricity production using LNG as fuel, taking into consideration only the current price of LNG, its energy density and the highest efficieny of a combined cycle gas turbine generator. The data needed for these calcuations is easily obtained and of public knowledge.
I arrived to 10c per kWh.
LNG is quite expensive as it has to be purified, liquified by cooling to about -150C, kept at that temperature during transportation and storage and then regassified for usage.
This value does not include transportation costs of LNG, losses of LNG to keep it cool during transportation and storage, the return on capital investment, cost of price fixing for 10 years and of course the profit for the private company.
It seems the PL will not publish the details of the study and the calculations which should factor in the above mentioned costs. It looks like another VAT/CET saga.
I think somebody will get rich on the commission of a new 200MW power station which we do not need. Il-veru Malta taghna ukoll – sorry, lkoll.
Not if they’re trying to keep away from the European gas grid. Must be one of the conditions set out by the investor.
Even their consultant clarified he has nothing to do with that.
Some strategic partner in North Africa willing to pour electricity into Europe, undercutting providers.
As Konrad said, he’ll provide the plant, gas plants, ships and the gas.
Or some Qatari oligarch? God, the unknown. It’s like living in 1930s Germany, without Marlene Dietrich. Voting for the Fuhrer, voting for change and a brave new world, while the details of the great plan are kept hidden.
This is politics, not a conjuring trick. We’ve had enough of that with PN already.
mhux ghal xi haga ta, imma l foregin experts consultants ghalhekk kienu imqabdin.
ghal l costings ghamluhom huma (gew verifikati)
u int qed tghidli nemmen l costings tieghek li ghamilt bil calculator int minflok l konsulenti?
just as a reminder dawn l konsulenti kemm il darba qabbadom il gvern ta gonzi.
allura trid tghid li meta dawn l konsulenti jqabbadhom l gvern ok, u meta jqabbadhom JM ma nemmnux l calculations taghhom?
minix nghid li kulma qal JM huwa tajjeb imma come on,,,,,
jista dan l pajjiz jkompli mixi li li jghid wiehed kollox tajjeb u ta l iehor kollox hazin??
[Daphne – I hate this style of communication. People who use it should train themselves out of it.]
The Labour Party needs a serious dose of reality.
At the moment Europe is mostly investing in coal. Liquefied gas is considered too expensive to transport, gas pipeline infrastructure is still years behind, the European shale gas industry is still in its infancy and nobody wants to depend on potentially unpredictable companies like Gazprom which are prone to pulling the plug whenever they have a political dispute.
‘According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a research firm, power utilities in Germany were set, on average, to lose €11.70 when they burned gas to make a megawatt of electricity, but to earn €14.22 per MW when they burned coal.’
German companies are actually switching from gas to coal because they’re losing money but Muscat is going to convince private companies to switch to gas just for Malta and then run power stations at a loss to keep prices down.
Read all the grisly details, published just four days ago, right here.
http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21569039-europes-energy-policy-delivers-worst-all-possible-worlds-unwelcome-renaissance
Ouch.
Read all the grisly details and make sure you also read the readers’ comments underneath the article, with links proving the opposite.
This is probably the answer to Tonio Fenech’s question of how it could be possible to install a 200MW power station at a price almost equal to one of 150MW.
Chances are that, in the great Mintoffian tradition, they will it secondhand.
Hi Matthew
Jigiefiri inti qed tghidli li kiku JM hareg jghid li kien ser ihaddem il powerstation bil faham (coal) inti kont ser taqbel mal proposta?
sincerament i don’t think so!
Fl-ebda mument ma semmejt li naqbel ma’ l-uzu tal-faham.
Il-punt hu li l-gass likwifat mhux meqjus viabbli ghax il-prezz tieghu gholi wisq u ikkalkulat li se jkompli joghla .
Kif l-anqas taqraw ma tafu?
Now I know why the PL didn’t want to divulge their plan for the reduction of electricity tariffs before now. How is it that nobody in the Labour Party itself challanged this plan. Where was Mangion? Where was the Profs?
This whole thing is utter, utter nonsense.
I can’t believe that people will actually buy into and vote for this shit.
The Nationalists aren’t perfect but my God are they a better option to take the country forward, as they have been doing for many a year now.
The Opposition troglodytes are going to lead us down the path to oblivion.
I hope people in this country will see sense come election day, but I highly doubt it. So sad.
Can someone explain how Konrad Mizzi is an expert in energy?
His qualifications are:
B.Sc. Business and computing from the University of Malta
M.A. in Strategic Management University of Nottingham
Ph.D with a theses titled “The contribution made by programme leadership consultants to the creation and maintenance of momentum for public service change programmes and the implications for their client sponsors: theory building within the context of a case study of the Maltese public service (1987-2001)” the whole text can be read here:
http://etheses.nottingham.ac.uk/2902/1/555500.pdf
I knew it. He’s one of those.
To think he started out planting pansies in roundabouts.
Why are you so astonished?
We had a glorified tea boy at a financial firm, who mutated into a TV station journalist. And if you are still not impressed, same anti EU journalist evolved into MEP, conveniently forgetting how much slop he wrote against said institution. And now same fella is poised to lead this sad country.
All this technical reasoning is just like water off a duck’s back insofar as Labour is concerned. They do not care a fig – all they are concerned with is that Joseph has spoken.