Understanding the Arms bill (3)

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.