When Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi told Parliament that Enemalta’s debt exceeded €800 million, no one was really surprised by the extent of the problem facing the energy utility and the bigger economy.
Arguably, the management of this debt poses one of the biggest risks to the new Administration.
The Enemalta debt has slowly been building up over the past few decades as different administrations sheltered this energy company from the realities of oil market dynamics. They also occasionally siphoned liquidity from the corporation to oil the wheels of public finances or, conversely, lubricated the machinery of the inefficient utility by pumping in subsidies to keep electricity rates as low as possible.
Another issue that plagued this utility in the past was its inefficient management that operated in a monopolistic environment where consumers could not do much about high energy rates but suffer and pay in silence.
But, judging by what has emerged in court so far, the saddest element in Enemalta’s management was the manner way in which oil was procured by the highest officials.
It is almost certain that the majority of voters in the last general election were influenced in their...
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