Parliament yesterday approved in second reading the controversial Enemalta Bill by 33 votes for and 27 votes against after the Opposition called a division.
The Bill now passes to committee stage and the third reading is due on Friday.
In contrast to the previous four sittings, yesterday morning’s three-hour debate was quiet but for Labour MP Joe Debono Grech’s 15-minute intervention during which he defended the General Workers’ Union and the Labour Party’s stance in relation to the Bill, which will turn Enemalta from a corporation into a limited liability company.
How could these two entities abandon the workers when they were conceived and nurtured by workers, he asked in reply to Opposition criticism.
Winding up the five-sitting debate, Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi said the government was working on an eight-point strategic plan with the Malta Resources Authority remaining the watchdog to further protect the consumer.
He said a number of strategic investments in Europe, which would also offer opportunities to Maltese companies, would be announced in the coming days.
Dr Mizzi said the energy company would be retaining dispatch rights over electricity generation and it would be the body to decide whether to operate the BWSC or Electrogas plants or the interconnector. Its decision would depend on costs.
He reiterated that the government would honour the promise it had made to employees, that they would be assigned to Engineering Resources Ltd under the same conditions of work. The various collective agreements would be honoured. The government was acting with the support of trade unions. Employees would remain on an indefinite contract.
Answering Opposition MP Mario de Marco, the Minister said that Engineering Resources Ltd was owned by the government and that it would remain so in the future.
No employee would be obliged to work abroad. However, there would be opportunities to do so for those who were interested.
Speaking about the government’s strategy on the corporation, Dr Mizzi said the government had implemented a system whereby the entity improved its billing. It had also set up a Theft Management Unit to address electricity theft.
Through a strategy for the production and generation of electricity, Enemalta would curb its generation costs by half during 2015, saving it €187 million.
Countering certain arguments made by Opposition MPs, Dr Mizzi said that making sole use of the interconnector would not have reduced prices. At certain times of the day, energy from the interconnector could cost up to 17 euro cents per unit.Investment was needed because Enemalta was not sustainable. Shanghai Electric had understood and accepted the government’s request to retain control.
The government will honour the promise it had made to employees
This was a long-term investment, which would enable Enemalta to reduce its debts and settle its dues with the European Investment Bank and Depfa Bank.
Government guarantees would also be reduced. The Maltese government and Shanghai Electric would guarantee debts proportional to their shares in Enemalta plc.
Speaking on Enemalta’s corporate social responsibility and the environment, Dr Mizzi said that through the switch to gas, dust from chimneys would be reduced by half. Thermal effluent would also be curbed by 50 per cent.
The government had appointed project managers to shut down the Marsa power station and Delimara One. The Delimara power station chimney would be dismantled.
Enemalta would not remain a local company. It would become a regional medium-sized player in Europe, together with its strategic investor. This was the new mindset of Enemalta.
Speaking about Enemalta’s petroleum division, the minister said that this would not be sold but would become a separate company. The government would announce its plans for the division in the coming months.
In the past Enemalta did not have a plan but the plan now implemented was yielding positive results.
When it came to voting, government and opposition whips informed the Speaker that government MPs Evarist Bartolo, Leo Brincat and Joe Mizzi were being paired with Opposition members Robert Arrigo, Albert Fenech and Francis Zammit Dimech. Labour MPs Marlene Farrugia, Franco Mercieca and Silvio Parnis were absent when their names were called.
‘A jump in the dark’ – PN deputy leader Mario de Marco
PN deputy leader Mario de Marco told Parliament yesterday it was unacceptable for the government to set up Engineering Resources Ltd to take over Enemalta Corporation’s assets, rights, liabilities and obligations without providing its statute or balance sheet. This would be tantamount to a jump in the dark
While the government assured Enemalta employees they would remain employed with Engineering Resources Ltd, it did not say what the company was, who were its shareholders or whether it would remain government owned.
The authorities had to ensure this company had the necessary capital to retain the employees’ current conditions.
Noting that the Bill would give the right to operators to reduce the provision of energy and provide them with immunity in respect of damages resulting from such a reduction, Dr de Marco said that the government should reconsider the legality of such a provision. “This is not a consumer-driven proposal. It is an operator driven provision.”
While the Bill provided that the price of energy could be prescribed by the operator after being approved in writing by the Resources Authority, it did not state on what basis the authority would approve the prices fixed by the operator.
If the government was set to privatise the energy sector, it should ensure that prices were reasonable and competitive.
Earlier, Dr de Marco appealed to the government to consider the Opposition’s genuine criticism.
While the PL in Opposition had criticised the BWSC plant, it now recognised the plant was saving €1 million per week. It had also criticised the use of heavy fuel oil. Although heavy fuel oil was not a clean fuel in itself, one had to consider the technology operating it as well. Studies showed that there were no adverse effects to the environment with the use of heavy fuel oil.
The PN government had also invested in the interconnector between Malta and Sicily, which was the best environmental solution. Certain people had said that the ultimate option should have been to opt for a second interconnector. The PN government had also considered a gas pipeline.
Dr de Marco said that through the BWSC and interconnector projects, Enemalta would have more options to obtain energy and be more efficient. It would also be able to shut down the Marsa power station.
While the PL projected itself as being positive, it adopted a negative approach towards the previous PN government.
Noting that Shanghai Electric would purchase 33 per cent of Enemalta plc, Dr de Marco asked the government whether it took into consideration the new Enemalta investments when fixing the price. It was unjust and unacceptable for the government to expect the Opposition to vote in favour of the Bill without tabling the necessary information to take an informed decision.
The government should use the benefit of hindsight and learn from the previous Nationalist government’s mistakes. Other countries privatised almost all of their sectors but not their energy sector. This seemed to be the position adopted by the PL before the general election. However, it had now changed its position.
Noting that the government had signed a secret agreement, Dr de Marco asked it to state why it chose Shanghai Electric and whether an attempt had been made to seek alternative solutions and offers.
Nationalist MPs Claudio Grech, Kristy Debono, Stephen Spiteri and Frederick Azzopardi and Labour MP Joe Debono Grech also contributed to the debate.