Malta’s electricity price is fourth lowest in EU for household consumers – Eurostat

Malta’s electricity price per kilowatt-hour (kWh) is the fourth lowest in the European Union for household consumers, a report published by Eurostat shows.

The report, which delves into the energy sector, shows that the price of electricity in Malta for household consumers, including taxes, levies and VAT was €0.1306 per kWh in 2018, far below the EU average of €0.2113 per kWh. 

In fact the data indicates that Malta had the fourth lowest electricity prices for household consumers in 2018, with only Bulgaria, Lithuania, and Hungary having lower prices. The highest price meanwhile can be found in Denmark, where the rate is almost triple – at €0.3123 – that of Malta.

The story is somewhat different however when it comes to non-household consumers, where the electricity price in Malta is of €0.1356 per kWh – the fifth highest in the EU and above the group average of €0.1149 per kWh. Prices in this regard are only higher in the United Kingdom (€0.1423), Italy (€0.1434), Cyprus (€0.1811), and Germany (€0.1516).

It should be noted that the measurement does not, in this case, take into consideration refundable taxes and levies and VAT. The data notes that Malta has a negligible share of taxes and levies paid by these non-household consumers; only Sweden has a lower rate, while other countries have taxes which range between the 5% mark in Spain up to the 48.5% mark in Germany.

“The price of energy in the EU depends on a range of different supply and demand conditions, including the geopolitical situation, the national energy mix, import diversification, network costs, environmental protection costs, severe weather conditions, or levels of excise and taxation”, the report reads.

The share of taxes and levies paid by household consumers in Malta is by far the lowest in the EU: the relative amount of tax contribution in 2018 was of 5.9% in Malta, where a low VAT rate is applied to the basic price and no other taxes are charged to household consumers, the report notes. The highest taxes meanwhile were charged in Denmark, where 64.3% of the final price was made up of taxes and levies

Renewable energy production in the European Union has increased by 64% between 2007 and 2017, the data indicates, which is an average increase of 5.1% per year. The EU’s target is to have a 20% share of its gross final energy consumption coming from renewable sources by 2020, with the report showing that this share stood at 17.5% as of 2017, compared to 8.5% in 2004.

A total of 11 member states have surpassed the targets set for them, with Croatia, Sweden, Denmark, and Estonia faring particularly well when compared to their targets, the report notes.  Sweden is in fact the only country where over half (54.5%) of its energy is derived from renewable sources.  They are ahead of Finland (41.0 %), Latvia (39.0 %), Denmark (35.8 %) and Austria (32.6 %).

Malta however finds itself at the other end of the spectrum, third from bottom in the ranking with a 7.2% share – still some way off of the stipulated 10% target for 2020, which was the minimum allowable target. Only Luxembourg (6.4%) and the Netherlands (6.6%) find themselves below Malta, while Belgium (9.1%) and Cyprus (9.9%) are yet to exceed 10% either.

This being said, the data shows that Malta does fare better in the use of renewable energy sources in heating and cooling, with a 20.2% share of all consumption in this regard coming from renewable sources. This is in actual fact just above the EU average of 19.5%, and is a marked increase from just 1% in 2004, and 5.7% in 2010.

Energy intensity of Maltese economy has almost halved in the space of a decade – Eurostat

The data indicates that the energy intensity of the Maltese economy has almost halved in the last ten years, with it standing at 85.3kg of oil equivalent per €1,000 of GDP-chain linked volumes in 2017 after having stood at 151.6kg as of 2007.

Energy intensity can be considered as an approximation of the energy efficiency of a country’s economy, the report states before noting that there are various reasons for observing improvements in energy intensity such as the general shift from industry towards a service based economy in Europe, a shift within industry to less energy-intensive production methods and activities, the closure of inefficient units, or more energy-efficient appliances.

The data indicates that in fact Malta’s economy is the third most efficient in terms of energy intensity in the EU; only Denmark (67.1) and Ireland (54.1) fare better.  At the other end of the spectrum, Bulgaria is the least efficient (424.4) followed by Estonia (300.9) and the Czech Republic (238.5).