Electricity tariffs 'would have shot through the roof' without new power station - minister

Local energy tariffs "would have shot through the roof" had the government not piloted the building of the new gas-fired power station, former energy minister Konrad Mizzi said in parliament on Tuesday. He said that without the new power station, Malta would have had to rely on oil and on the interconnector, and the prices of energy from both sources had gone up substantially compared to gas. Dr Mizzi was speaking when he and Energy Minister Joe Mizzi gave a statement on the conclusion of the Electrogas power station project with the signing of the security of suply agreement. In his statement, minister Joe Mizzi said the completion of the project had cleared the way for the government to focus on its next big energy project, which would be the €320 million gas pipeline from Sicily. The government was proud of what had been achieved, not least because clients in Malta were now charged some of the lowest energy tariffs in Europe. Others, he said, had said the new power station was not needed. Yet, in terms of international rules, a country had to have enough capacity to ensure supply even if the biggest generating capacity failed. Therefore, had the new power station not been...