Joseph Muscat has again come out in defence of the Delimara gas power station project, three days before the Public Accounts Committee picks up an investigation into the project.

The former prime minister observed in a Facebook post that according to data given in parliament by Energy Minister Miriam Dalli, in April alone, the cost of electricity from the interconnector was 2.5 times more expensive than that produced by the Electrogas plant.  Thanks to that power station and hedging, Malta saved €21.9 million in April alone, he said.

The Auditor-General in a report in 2018 found that the Electrogas bid to build the power station did not comply with minimum requirements to win the lucrative contract on “multiple instances”.  That contract was the subject of lengthy deliberations within the Public Accounts Committee until the March general election, and the subject is due to be picked up again by the newly-constituted committee on Thursday.

Over the years energy bought through the interconnector cost considerably less than electricity produced locally, but that changed overnight when Russia invaded Ukraine and gas and oil prices soared, particularly on mainland Europe owing to heavy dependence on supplies from Russia. In contrast, Electrogas sources its gas from Azerbaijan.  

Muscat noted that according to the information given by minister Dalli the price of electricity supplied through the interconnector in April was two-and-a-half times more expensive than that of the gas power station 'which some had said was not needed, with a hedging agreement 'that was supposedly corrupt.' 

Malta in one month thus saved €21.9 million thanks to the Labour government's decision to invest in the gas power station, in contrast to the PN view that investment should be made solely on the interconnector. 

The argument some had made that Malta was badly served by the hedging agreement had now fallen through, Muscat said. Now other countries were on their knees before those countries with which Malta had already reached an agreement. But now it may be too late, Muscat said. 

Government failed to publish earlier interconnector prices

In a reaction Nationalist MP Mark Anthony Sammut, who had originally asked Miriam Dalli about the energy costs, noted that earlier questions about unit costs from the interconnector and the power station had not been published by the government, which had cited Enemalta's commercial interests.

Sammut asked how revealing the earlier prices was said to prejudice Enemalta's commercial interests, but last month's April prices did not. 

Was the minister worried that revealing prices from April 2017 would show that Malta did not fare well from the deal?