The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry has called for businesses to be allowed to purchase their own energy from the existing available sources.

“This way, businesses would be able to choose the source of energy that best suits them and in the process make considerable savings on their energy bill,” it said in the energy chapter of its pre-election proposals.

Malta is the only European member state where energy tariffs for industrial consumers are higher than those for households

It added that the government should explore the possibility of private initiatives or private-public partnerships for more cost-effective and efficient distribution of energy to industrial users.

“Investment in new infrastructure would create private distribution hubs in industrial and other clustered areas, with the possibility of acquiring energy from different sources and at the best rates,” it said, noting that Malta was the only European member state where energy tariffs for industrial consumers were higher than those for households.

The chamber proposals on energy are part of its “Policy Proposals for a Competitiveness-centred Electoral Manifesto” which it presented to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil. The document proposes 71 deliverables split across 12 chapters, each tackling an aspect of Malta’s economy.