Finally please remember to ask your landlord to sign Arms Form H - Change in the number of persons declaration.  Your landlord will complete Section A of this form; all the occupants of the rental property will complete Section B.  Landlord and occupants will have to also provide copies of photo identification.  This will make sure that you are on the correct residential utility tariff for people living in their primary residence.  The default tariff is the second home tariff which is extortionate, especially for water.  The only way to be on the correct utility tariff for people living in their primary residence is via Arms Form H.  Please click on the link below to download this form:   

For a standard rental contract taken from the very useful and official Housing Authority rental website, please click on the link below:   ​

The landlord must register the contract with the Housing Authority within ten days of the commencement of the lease.   If the lease is registered after ten days then there will be an additional fee. If the landlord fails to register the contract within the ten days, then the tenant can register the rental contract at the expense of the landlord.  ​

,There were no less than three articles on Arms in  The Malta Independent over the weekend, including Saturday's editorial.  It is good to see that finally the spotlight is on Arms and its systemic incorrect implementation of its own billing system, in highly probable contravention of the Electricity and Water Supply Regulations.  

The editorial describes how increased frequency of billing will be extremely likely to cost you more.   This is because periods of low consumption will not offset periods of higher consumption.    Incidentally this is the reason for the lengthy disclaimer on the  online Arms calculator. 

No, contrary to what some people think, the online  Arms calculator cannot ever be wrong.   The online calculator would consist of all the algorithms described in Understanding the Arms bill (1) , Understanding the Arms bill (2)  and Understanding the Arms bill (3). 

So what possible reason could there be for this disclaimer?  The answer is that the cost of your consumption of electricity and water depends very much on the billing period.   

 For an actual example, please see   here  how our annual consumption of   water and electricity over the last year cost us €1726.40 when calculated in six bills, every 2 months,  whilst using the Arms online calculator, we can see that it cost us  €1436.06, when the cost was calculated over the year.  

This is the Malta Independent editorial:    TMID editorial - Arms:  Robbing Peter to pay Paul

 In this  article of TMID journalist Helena Grech,  it is revealed that it is also the eco reduction  that is being calculated pro rata.   So consumers lose out yet again.

​I am glad to see that UHM Voice of the Workers is launching an investigation into the Arms billing scheme.  It is also asking the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development to look into this.    (see here) 

In March earlier this year, I gave this presentation to the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development, on how tenants in Malta endure extortion on top of extortion.

Followers of this blog will understand that if homeowners have it bad, tenants have it much worse.  They have no easy access to the Arms account and they usually are on the incorrectly applied summer residence tariff,  misleadingly named the domestic tariff. 

This is extortionate - there are no eco reductions applicable on this tariff and no allowances per person for water at cheaper rates.  So, no matter how many people live in a household, the cost of the water consumed is €2.19 per cubic metre for the first 33 cubic metres of water, followed by an eye watering €5.14 per cubic metre of water.   

Contrast this to the €1.40 per cubic metre payable on the 33 cubic metres of water PER PERSON per year on the correct residential tariff.   The cost of electricity  per unit is also greater compared to the cost on the correct residential tariff.  

In this presentation I also discuss the huge issue of  prepaid meters, where landlords are free to charge whatever they want.  Arms disclaims all responsibility for prepaid meters.

Every single aspect of the Arms billing system needs to be studied carefully.  These are not one off anomalies.   This is a systemic incorrect  implementation of the Arms billing system.  It is  highly likely that this billing system is in contravention of the Water and Electricity Supply Regulations.   

​Finally,  most disturbingly of all, there are strong indications that these contraventions are deliberate.  Could it be that Arms is doing whatever it takes to fulfil  its stated mission, to 

"increase the business value of its business owners and partners by: 

• Identifying and managing opportunities of revenue growth; 
• Continually improving the quality and efficiency of the services it provides; 
• And maximising its capital utilisation."?

  Arms mission statement

Why shorter Arms billing periods could be costing you
                           
Over the year 10th March, 2017 to 9th March, 2018, our household of 5 was billed six times – once every two months. These are the 6 bills we have received over the year:

10/3/2017 to 11/5/2017: €285.18
12/5/2017 to 12/7/2017 €133.54
13/7/2017 to 11/9/2017 €260.15
12/9/2017 to 10/11/2017 €106.20
11/11/2017 to 11/1/2018 €443.69
12/1/2018 to 9/3/2018 €497.64

Total: €1726.40

I added the cost of these 6 Arms bills and then compared this total to the online Arms calculation for the year.  

Interestingly, the online Arms calculator contains a very lengthy, legalistic disclaimer.  This is clearly due to the fact that Arms recognizes that the cost of the Arms bill will depend very much on the billing period in question.

When I used the online calculator to calculate the cost of our Arms bill over the billing period of this year, I found that if the billing period was 1 year instead of 2 months,  then the cost  would be €1436.06.                          

€1726.40 - €1436.06 = €290.34

So, paying for our consumption over 6 bills in 1 year is €290.34 more expensive than paying it all at the end of the year.
 
This is usually on two counts:

• The household will be less likely to hit the very expensive fourth band of €0.3420 per unit because the leftover quota for periods of lesser consumption will compensate for periods of higher consumption.  This is by far the more important count.
• The household will be more likely to be eligible for an eco reduction because, again, the leftover eco reduction applicable on periods of low consumption will compensate for periods of higher consumption.

It is inconceivable to me that Arms - the sole, state owned utility billing company -  uses all means necessary to increase the revenue from the ordinary Maltese resident.  The spirit of this billing system - if ever there were one – is being twisted completely out of all recognition.  The bottom line is that consumers of  electricity in Malta are paying well over the odds for their consumption.