I wish to raise a point that possibly escaped both Konrad Mizzi and Tonio Fenech.

In 2006, Malta obtained a derogation from the European Commission from the obligation to permit electricity consumers to choose their electricity supplier as is the practice in all EU countries. Effectively, Enemalta has a monopoly of electricity supply and no other company is permitted to sell electricity to consumers.

The justification for this derogation was that Malta is a small isolated system and less than five per cent of the annual electricity consumption is obtained through interconnections with other systems.

The derogation (Commission Decision 2006/859/EC) was given with the proviso that “Malta shall monitor the evolution of the electricity sector and shall report to the Commission any substantial changes therein, in particular information on new generating licences, new entrants in the market and new infrastructure plans that may necessitate a review of the derogation”.

This means that when the Sicily interconnector enters into service, Enemalta may lose its monopoly and consumers may decide to choose to buy their electricity from any company that will be established in competition with Enemalta.

If Enemalta is then saddled with a 10-year power purchase agreement and the rival company succeeds in buying its electricity from Europe at a cheaper price, consumers will switch to the rival company and Enemalta will go bust.