Electricity billing to change, allowing users to benefit fully from cheaper units

Energy Minister Miriam Dalli announced a new utility billing system through which consumers will make use of all cheap units allocated for a year.

The change will correct an anomaly in the current billing system that saw some consumers paying at the higher bands despite a yearly allocation of cheap units.

"In the coming weeks, we will be announcing details on how anomalies that a PN government introduced in a 2009 legal notice, will be repealed," Dalli said in parliament on Wednesday. The system will apply to consumption from the beginning of January 2022.

She said work is already underway on a system, through which families can make use of all allocated units in each band. Dalli mentioned how the system is being developed and tested, and that the necessary changes to the 2009 legal notice will be made.

“Consumers will be able to accumulate the cheapest units they don’t consume so they would be able to utilise all units at their disposal,” Dalli said.

She said that in contrast with a PN government in 2008, whose only solution was to increase utility bills, this government is up to the challenges. “We have a different mentality and we are up to the challenges […] Yesterday the Eurostat figures showed how energy prices increased by around 10% but locally they increased by 0%,” Dalli said.

“We will not do as the PN government, deduct eco contribution and increase utility bills for businesses, jeapordising jobs in the process,” Dalli said. "Our strategy is to promote responsible consumption, as per the national decarbonisation and sustainability plans."

113 projects approved last year

Dalli said that during 2021, Malta Enterprise approved 113 projects with foreign and local investment.

The total investment was €175 million and generated 1,700 jobs, she said.

“The figures are provisional but I can confirm that the investment in our country for 2021, during a pandemic year, was more than that in 2020,” Dalli said.

"This investment is a proof that both foreign and Maltese investors have trust in this country. The believe they can work and create jobs with this government."