GO, Melita and Epic have temporarily eliminated surcharges for consumers who do not pay by direct debit, pending an investigation by Malta’s consumer regulator into price fixing.

The three telecom companies have come under scrutiny for their decision to charge a €1 fee for bills that are not paid by direct debit.

They argued that the change had been forced upon them by an instruction issued by the Central Bank of Malta, acting to implement an EU directive, and that affected customers had received an equivalent discount on each invoice.

But that explanation was not accepted by the government, which referred the companies to the Malta Competition and Consumer Authority for investigation last June.

Labor MEP Alex Agius Saliba also raised the issue at EU level and called on the European Commission to investigate whether the introduction of the surcharge goes against the Payment Services Directive. , which guarantees equal prices regardless of the method of payment.

Agius Saliba and Consumer Affairs Minister Julia Farrugia Portelli argued that the surcharge would have an unfair impact on poorer members of society.

On Thursday, Agius Saliba said both Epic and GO had stopped charging the surcharge to customers who don’t opt ​​into direct debit payments.

Affected GO customers have been notified by email that the company will revise its billing methodology to remove the €1 charge per bill.

On Friday, Melita released a statement saying it had also suspended charges and would reimburse customers for any additional charges incurred over the past month. Prices would now return to their “pre-July levels”, the company said, in line with what competitors had done.

The statement says the change is “temporary.” A company spokesperson said Malta weather that the pause would remain in effect until the MCCAA probe was completed.