The shadow minister for energy on Monday demanded a government explanation on precisely how the almost €500 million allocated for energy subsidies next year would be spent. He also asked the government to explain how official Enemalta data on the fuel mix for 2019 was changed after two years, the biggest change being in the component of energy bought through the interconnector.

Speaking in the budget debate. Mark Anthony Sammut said the energy sector was characterised by the fact that everything was hidden, and the people were kept in the dark about them.

Secrecy prevailed, for example, on the prices and tariffs of electricity purchases, the way consumer tariffs were calculated, Enemalta’s audited accounts, and the power purchase agreement.

As already declared, the PN was in favour of the subsidies to keep energy prices stable and reduce inflation, he said. Indeed, what should worry this country was that it had a high rate of inflation despite energy prices having been kept stable.

What the PN was not in favour of was the way how the government had published just a line item in its financial estimates for the energy subsidies, even though they accounted for 10% of total government spending.  Where were the costings and workings which the government so strongly demanded whenever the PN made a proposal?

The lack of information on the subsidies outlay led one to suspect that all was not right.  His information, gleaned from Italian data on units per hour sold to Malta through the interconnector multiplied by spot prices showed that Malta last year bought some 500,000 megawatt hours costing €75 million. This year to October Malta bought €580,000 megawatt hours costing €190 million. By the end of the year, the projection was that spending would reach €220 million, meaning an increase of €150 million from last year.

But where would the remaining €320 million of the energy subsidies allocation go for? Would the funds go on food subsidies, fuel? Would they fund the profits of private companies and Socar in the case of gas purchases? How much would end up funding corruption ?

Sammut observed that the Budget estimates also included another line item - €6.4 million being allocated for refunds of overpayment of energy bills covering just last year. This came after the government had long denied PN claims that this theft was actually taking place, ever since ‘actual’ bills were issued every two months.

The PN, Sammut said, would continue to insist that the refunds should cover all the years during which the overbilling had taken place. Those refunds, he said, would cover more than €8 annually, as the minister had claimed. In many cases, the refunds due ran into hundreds of euro.

Fuel mix data changed

Sammut said that while information was kept secret, even basic data could not be trusted.

In terms of EU requirements, Enemalta was obliged to issue fuel mix data and the CO2 emission factor data. Most countries published their data for the previous year three months into the new year. In Malta it took over nine months.

Data tabled in parliament by Mark Anthony Sammut.

Up to a few weeks ago the last data was for 2019. At the beginning of September he asked in parliament about the latest data, and the minister replied that the data for 2020 had been published on the Enemalta website. It resulted that the data was actually published after he asked his question, and the 2021 data was still being awaited.

But what was even more worrying was that the 2020 data included a side column making comparisons with 2019, and yet those figures for 2019 were different from what was originally published. And the major change was on how much electricity was bought from the interconnector and the CO2 emission factor.  Furthermore, the CO2 emissions factor on consumer bills was based on the old figures. Which data had the regulator verified? “If we cannot trust basic historical data on energy, how are we to trust workings on subsidies which have never been shown?” Sammut asked. 

Sammut hit out at the government for wasting nine years without doing much to raise the proportion of energy derived for alternative sources.  Malta, he said, could be a leading hub for the development of floating wind and solar energy farms, but, alas, Enemalta had chosen to invest in a windfarm in Montenegro, with funds eventually channelled to secret company 17 Black.

The government was doing little to improve energy efficiency, particularly in construction methods, and financial allocations for energy-saving schemes were actually being reduced, he said.  

PN shifts costs to consumers – minister

Energy minister Miriam Dalli said PN policy was always to shift costs to consumers. The Opposition leader had said that if prices rose abroad, they would rise in Malta.

The PN’s pre-budget document said nothing about keeping energy prices stable, despite Sammut having now said that the party agreed with the energy subsidies to maintain stability.

Dalli said PN spokesmen were trying to convince the people that energy tariffs had not really been reduced by the government. But the people remembered how tariffs had been raised when the PN was in government. Its austerity measures were detrimental to the economy and the people’s quality of life, and the same thing would have happened now had the present government not kept prices stable.  

An average family of four would have seen bills rising by some €2,000. The present government, Dalli said, was giving stability and certainty to people and businesses.

Power from interconnector far more expensive than power station's

Some people had said the country had not needed the new Electrogas power station and could rely on the interconnector. Yet this year up to September, the average cost of electricity from the gas power station was €106 per megawatt hour compared to €353 per kilowatt hour from the interconnector.

The minister said that apart from generation facilities, the government was strengthening the distribution sector, and power cuts this summer were down by a third compared to the previous year.

On energy from alternative sources, she said that in 2013, Malta had just 3.7% of its energy from renewable sources. Now it was almost 11%.

She said energy investors would continue to be encouraged to invest in big wind and solar farms, and the infrastructure of charging points for electric vehicles would be strengthened, with strong interest being shown by the private sector.