A new energy billing system that will help consumers save their unused cheaper energy units for use at a later stage is being introduced this month, energy minister Miriam Dalli said Wednesday.

Speaking in Parliament, Dalli said the new system will address an anomaly created by a Nationalist government in 2009.

The new system, which is currently being developed and tested, will calculate household usage from January onwards and consumers will be able to save the cheaper unused units so that they will be able to use them at a later stage rather than lose them. The new system had been announced in the budget speech.

Dalli said the government’s strategy promotes wiser energy usage according to a national plan on decarbonisation and greater sustainability.

Dalli also said that, while energy price in Europe increased by as much as 10%, this was not the case in Malta, where there was no change in the price of energy, gas or fuels.

Minister Dalli also announced that the Malta Enterprise approved a total of 113 projects in 2021 and said that these projects are both of foreign and local investments.

The total of investment from these projects adds up to over €175 million and they will create over 1,700 jobs.

She explained that although these are provisional figures, as the year 2021 is still closing in terms of financial statements, the total investment for Malta for the year 2021, exceeded that of the year 2020, despite the pandemic.

“This kind of investment goes to show that foreign and Maltese investors have confidence in this country as they believe that they can work with this government to continue creating more jobs.

Estimates drawn up from the Malta Enterprise show that we can expect another record in terms of investment this year, both from new foreign direct investment and local investments,” Dalli said.