Technical talks with Sicilian regional and local authorities in Ragusa on the undersea cable connecting Malta with the European electricity grid were at an advanced stage, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech announced on Monday. Talks in Sicily concentrated on the preparation of the required infrastructure while, at the same time, talks in Malta were held with Mepa on the necessary permits for the landing site at Qalet Marku and the site station at Magħtab.
Winding up the debate on the Enemalta 2011 estimates, Mr Fenech said the government had also invested €75 million to strengthen the electricity distribution in Malta and Gozo with more distribution centres in Kappara, Manoel island, Ricasoli and Xewkija. Another €5 million were invested in the Scada system to electronically join the distribution centres with the two power stations. Some 4,500 metres of cable were laid for Smart City while an underground cable was also laid between Mosta and Mellieħa.
Enemalta had already installed 72,000 smart meters – part of the 250,000 which would be installed by the end of 2012 through an investment of €20 million. Smart meters reduced electricity theft and helped the consumer to control consumption.
The Minister said that there was no objection for the Auditor General to make the necessary verifications on oil purchases, adding that it was unfair to raise doubts by saying that the corporation was not transparent on the matter. He rebuked the opposition for failing to appoint a member on the fuel procurement committee which was responsible for purchasing fuel and for hedging. Hedging always contained an element of risk because of fluctuating prices.
He referred to fuel prices in Malta and said that EU statistics showed that petrol and diesel were higher in 15 and in 16 EU member states respectively.
Only two per cent of consumers had not yet received their utility bill for more than one year’s consumption. Arms Ltd was sending some 6,000 bills daily.
He admitted that excise duty on fuel had increased with revenue going for general government budgetary needs. Mr Fenech said Malta’s emission levels were lower than the EU threshold allocated. These levels could be reduced further with the interconnector cable, the transport reform and the closure of the Marsa power station.
The minister criticised the opposition for promising everything without offering any solutions. The Leader of the Opposition promised to reduce electricity tariffs by €15 million but failed to mention that energy costs amounted to €350 million.
He said that Labour MP Joe Mizzi had explained the feasibility of his proposal to giving a grant to households to install their own alternative source of energy. This presumably meant setting up photovoltaic panels which took a lot of space and could not be recharged during the night. This expense amounting to €400 million would not give the same amount of energy as conventional power stations. How could one then produce electricity if the power stations closed down, Mr Fenech asked. He called on the opposition to be more serious in its criticism.
Mr Fenech also referred to the possibility of operating the Delimara power station with gas. The government had discarded the proposal because it had to build a gas terminal taking over all the land from the power station to Delimara point. Another option was a gas pipeline which had also been considered by a Labour government in the past. This was not financially viable.
He added that now, using gas could be an option because the EU was ready to give assistance to countries and island states such as Malta and Cyprus in importing gas for their energy needs.