Electricity Bills For Maltese Households Were Facing A Massive €500 Rise, Robert Abela Reveals
Electricity bills for Maltese households would have increased by a whopping €500 this year had the government not intervened to freeze pieces, Prime Minister Robert Abela has said.
“Many families would have suffered had we not taken certain decisions,” Abela told a PL rally today, referring to the government’s freezing of energy prices throughout 2022.
“We might take this for granted sometimes, but energy prices increased by 50% in the UK this year and by 29% in the Eurozone in January alone. However, we took a crucial strategic decision which allowed us to keep electricity, gas and fuel prices stable”
“Had we not gone down this route of intervention, every household’s electricity bills would have gone up by €500 in a year.”
“Those who think we will stop here are wrong; our country has enough resources to cope with any challenge we are faced with.”
Malta is currently shielded from huge global surges in gas prices due to a hedging agreement that power station operators Electrogas had signed with Azeri state-owned company Socar in 2015, which sees it purchase LNG at a fixed rate of €9.40 ($11.50) per unit.
However, this deal is set to expire next month, prompting the government to utilise public funds to prevent it from increasing electricity bills.
Although Abela didn’t specify how much public funds have been allocated to keep energy prices stables, Times of Malta reported last November that some €200 million have been put aside.
What do you make of Abela’s statement?
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