The government will continue to offer businesses and families stability in their energy bills although it will not tolerate waste, Energy minister Miriam Dalli told parliament on Tuesday evening.

She said the government will have spent €1 billion to subsidise energy bills over two years. But the benefits could be seen when one compared the situation here with that abroad.

Speaking in parliament, the minister referred to opposition comments on energy tariffs and the cost of living. She said stability was a key characteristic of the government, since it encouraged investment and provided solutions to the challenges which society faced.

The government could take no lessons from the PN, which, when in government, had raised energy tariffs faster than the rest of the European Union. Even today, had the PN been in government, tariffs would rise again and stability would be replaced by uncertainty, the minister said.  

The benefits of current government policy could be seen in strong economic growth.  In only the first six months of this year, Malta Enterprise approved 15 projects that would create 800 jobs. In a year, ME supported 35 start-ups with an investment of  €22 million. At the same time Malta had record low unemployment, thanks to a clear government strategy which investors had confidence in.

In other EU countries, she observed, the people were being forced to cut back on their electricity consumption. In Malta, no such measures were needed and the EU had granted a derogation for Malta. All this impacted the quality of life.

In the UK,  the average annual electricity bill for households had increased by 30% this year. In Malta a family of three was saving €1,700 a year thanks to government assistance. A family of four was saving €2,000 annually.

In Italy thousands of businesses were expected to close with 400,000 workers facing unemployment because of the rising energy tariffs. Many European citizens would either not be able to heat their homes, or not pay their bills.

As for gas, Europe faced the risk that it would lack enough supply for its factories and for domestic heating. Therefore a proposal had been made for gas consumption to be reduced by 10%, and 5% at peak hours.  That would mean factories would have to close and public lighting switched off.

But Malta had achieved a derogation in this too because it had an independent supply which offered protection to its people.

Spending €1 billion in energy tariffs assistance over two years, the government would not tolerate waste, Dalli said, but she could assure the people that the stability policy would be maintained, providing the certainty which the economy, and the people’s quality of life benefited enjoyed..