For the past few years, Malta has taken a clear decision to protect households and businesses from the full impact of international energy prices.

There is no question that this intervention provided stability during extraordinary international uncertainty. It protected household disposable income, helped businesses contain operating costs and shielded the Maltese economy from some of the inflationary pressures experienced elsewhere in Europe.

But as international energy markets face renewed price volatility, we need to ask a more difficult question: for how long can we continue doing this, and at what opportunity cost?

Malta cannot control international oil and gas prices. Neither can we control geopolitical instability or disruptions to international energy supplies. Yet, as an island economy heavily dependent on energy imports, we remain particularly exposed to these risks.

Keeping prices stable for consumers and businesses does not make higher international energy costs disappear. Someone still pays the difference; and ultimately that cost is borne by the taxpayer.

This is not a new expense.

Energy-support measures continue to impose a substantial and cumulative burden on public finances. Government expenditure under the Energy Support Measures budget line amounted to €180.0 million in 2021, €234.2 million in 2022, €227.2 million in 2023 and €183.2 million in 2024, representing approximately €824.6 million in actual expenditure over four years. Including the €152 million approved estimate for 2025 and the €172 million budget estimate for 2026, actual and budgeted support over the six-year period amounts to approximately €1.15 billion.

Separately, the European Commission estimated the fiscal cost of Malta's broader energy-support measures at around 0.9% of GDP in 2025, rising to approximately 1.4% in 2026.

These are significant amounts of public money.

The question should therefore not be whether Government was right to intervene when the energy crisis erupted. It was an extraordinary situation requiring extraordinary measures.

The question today is whether an emergency response risks becoming a permanent economic model.

This is precisely where The Malta Chamber's Pre-Budget 2027 proposals become particularly relevant. We have argued that had part of the substantial sums spent on broad fuel and energy subsidies been invested in renewable generation, energy efficiency and storage, Malta would today be less exposed to international energy shocks.

The solution is not to abruptly remove subsidies.

Doing so while international prices are elevated could create a significant shock for families and businesses, damage competitiveness and generate inflationary pressures.

Instead, Malta needs a carefully managed transition from subsidising consumption, and potentially also inefficient or excessive consumption, towards investing in energy resilience.

Every euro spent on a subsidy addresses today's energy bill. A euro invested effectively in energy efficiency, renewable generation, storage or infrastructure can reduce tomorrow's energy bill as well.

That distinction should increasingly guide our national energy policy.

Malta needs substantially greater investment in renewable-energy generation, battery and other storage technologies, energy efficiency and the electricity distribution network. Businesses and households should be supported in reducing consumption and producing more of their own energy.

We should also review and update the existing consumption bands to better distinguish between normal and excessive use, ensuring that higher levels of consumption are subject to stronger price signals.

Support should increasingly protect those who genuinely need it while creating incentives for efficiency and investment.

Transparency is equally important. While current bills already indicate the level of Government subsidy, this information should be made more detailed and accessible, including through clearer consumption comparisons and visual elements. Existing digital electricity-consumption monitoring should also be developed into a comprehensive national smart-energy application, providing households and businesses with real-time or near-real-time consumption data, comparative usage trends and automated alerts for abnormal or excessive consumption or usage outside normal operating hours. This would enable users to identify inefficiencies and better manage their energy consumption.

But there is another structural question Malta should now be prepared to confront.

Is it time to liberalise Malta's energy market?

For years this discussion has been postponed, partly because of Malta's particular circumstances as a small electricity system with limited interconnection. Malta has benefited from derogations from elements of the EU electricity-market framework, including provisions relating to third-party access and consumer choice.

But circumstances are changing.

Malta is developing additional interconnection, renewable energy is becoming increasingly decentralized, storage technology is advancing and new potential sources of energy are emerging.

The Malta Chamber has previously argued that the distribution network should become accessible to other operators and has called for a clear roadmap towards liberalization.

This does not mean privatizing Malta's electricity infrastructure.

It means examining whether appropriately regulated competition and third-party access could encourage private investment, innovation, renewable generation, storage and new energy services while maintaining security of supply and appropriate consumer protection.

The question should no longer be automatically postponed. It deserves serious national discussion based on Malta's circumstances and the experience of other small energy markets.

Government should therefore consider establishing a transparent roadmap examining what a progressively liberalized Maltese energy market could look like, what infrastructure would first be required, which safeguards would be necessary and where competition could genuinely deliver benefits.

This should form part of a much broader long-term Energy Resilience Plan.

Government has successfully shielded Malta from successive international energy shocks. The next phase should be about progressively reducing the need for that shield.

That means using public resources increasingly to leverage private investment, accelerate renewables and storage, strengthen the grid, improve efficiency and encourage cleaner transport.

There will still be circumstances where Government intervention is necessary. Severe international shocks may require temporary and targeted support, particularly for vulnerable households and businesses disproportionately exposed to such shocks.

But emergency intervention should remain a safety net rather than becoming the permanent architecture of Malta's energy policy.

The current international energy situation should therefore serve as another warning; but also as an opportunity for us to prepare better.

Malta cannot determine the international price of oil or gas. But we can determine how vulnerable our economy remains to those prices.

For several years we have successfully protected consumers from the international cost of energy.

The challenge for the coming years is greater.

We must now reduce Malta's exposure to that cost.

Mark Bajada is Deputy President, The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry