MP takes Dalli to task for refusing to reveal energy prices Enemalta paid since 2017

Energy Minister Miriam Dalli has refused to divulge details on the average price of each energy unit which Enemalta has paid for its electricity supply, citing the company’s commercial interests.

Dalli was replying to a parliamentary question by Nationalist MP Mark Anthony Sammut, who asked the energy minister how much Enemalta paid for each unit of energy from the Delimara 4 (Electrogas) and Delimara 3 (BWSC) power stations and the Interconnector, between April 2017 and April 2022.

He also asked Dalli how many units of energy were bought from each of the sources on a monthly basis since April 2017.

In a PQ earlier this month, Dalli gave a breakdown of Malta’s energy costs in a parliamentary question put forward by the same PN MP. According to Dalli, the average price of energy from the interconnector shot up to €258.25 per megawatt. Meanwhile, the average price of electricity from Electrogas stands at €85.81 per megawatt.

Additionally, Enemalta buys EU emissions allowances, or carbon emissions, at an average market price of €20.37 per megawatt.

But the energy minister has refused to present a breakdown of costs, insisting the requested information would prejudice Enemalta’s commercial interests.

“It is also useful to note that Enemalta employs a dispatch optimisation policy, which considers market prices, while taking into consideration other technical and commercial needs, on a 24 hours basis throughout the whole year,” she said.

Reacting to her reply on Facebook, Sammut questioned the minister’s decision to not publish a breakdown of the unit prices, after the minister had given a breakdown of Malta's energy costs.

“If it does not prejudice the commercial interest in publishing the prices being paid today, what logic are you using, when insisting you cannot publish the prices at which you bought energy five years ago, especially when the fixed price agreement has now expired?” he said.

He also asked what the minister “is hiding”. “If you release certain information to the public, would you be revealing how the deals you carried out in the past were not in the country’s interest?”