Enemalta could lose its monopoly on electricity supply because of the planned interconnector with Sicily, a former Enemalta manager has warned.
Engineer John Pace, who made the headlines last week when he blamed Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt for ditching a gas pipeline proposal 10 years ago, today makes a fresh observation in a letter to The Times (see page 15).
“I wish to raise a point that possibly escaped both (PL candidate) Konrad Mizzi and (Finance Minister) Tonio Fenech,” he begins, referring to the two men who have dominated the energy debate over the past weeks.
Mr Pace points out that building an interconnector with Sicily could persuade the European Commission to lift a derogation granted in 2006 which effectively grants Enemalta a monopoly on electricity supply. In all other EU countries, consumers can choose from whom to buy their electricity.
“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,” says Mr Pace, warning that a proviso states that Malta should report any “substantial changes” in the market.
“This means that, when the Sicily interconnector enters in service, Enemalta may lose its monopoly and consumers may choose to buy their electricity from any company that will be established in competition with Enemalta,” he says, pointing out that this would have implications on energy plans such as those being proposed by Labour.
The Finance Ministry did not respond to questions sent by The Times yesterday on this issue.
However, Labour’s Konrad Mizzi, who is fronting the party’s energy plans, has downplayed the issue.
“The Government had negotiated a permanent derogation and a Labour Government would seek to maintain that position. If the European Commission raises these concerns, I think there are ways to address them,” said Dr Mizzi.
He added that Labour’s plans would finally attract a new entrant to the generation market, which is already liberalised, leading to healthy competition that would reduce electricity prices.