Energy subsidies have exceeded €1 billion.
Documentary fact. Malta's energy subsidy programme has run €350M-€600M/year since 2022, depending on wholesale price levels in any given year. Cumulative across 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 the total comfortably exceeds €1 billion. IMF Article IV consultations, European Commission EDP documentation, and Malta's own Budget reporting all confirm the order of magnitude. One of the largest discretionary expenditure items in Maltese public finance across this window. True.
Documentary fact. Malta's energy subsidy programme has run €350M-€600M/year since 2022, depending on wholesale price levels in any given year. Cumulative across 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 the total comfortably exceeds €1 billion. IMF Article IV consultations, European Commission EDP documentation, and Malta's own Budget reporting all confirm the order of magnitude. One of the largest discretionary expenditure items in Maltese public finance across this window. True.
We tested Abela's claim against (1) Maltese Government Budget annual disclosures of the energy-subsidy line, (2) IMF Article IV consultation reporting for Malta 2022-2025, and (3) European Commission Excessive Deficit Procedure documentation referencing the subsidy.
True. Malta's energy subsidy programme has run €350M-€600M/year since 2022, depending on wholesale price levels in any given year. Cumulative across 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 the total has comfortably exceeded €1 billion. IMF Article IV consultations, European Commission EDP documentation, and Malta's own Budget reporting all confirm the order of magnitude. The figure is one of the largest discretionary expenditure items in Maltese public finance during this window. Limitations: precise totals can vary by counting method — depending on whether one counts gross subsidy outflows, net of windfall-tax recoveries from energy generators, or includes adjacent fuel/heating subsidy lines.
Have Malta's energy subsidies really exceeded €1 billion
Abela's '€1 billion in energy subsidies' figure is one of the cleanest documentary facts in the entire press conference — it's been confirmed in multiple successive budgets, IMF reports, and EU documents.
What the energy subsidy programme actually spends on
Malta's energy subsidy programme has three main expenditure channels:
- Electricity tariff freeze — Enemalta is paid a state subsidy to maintain frozen retail electricity prices despite higher wholesale-input costs. The largest single element.
- Fuel price stabilisation — Government pays the difference between the international wholesale fuel price and the regulated retail pump price at petrol stations.
- Industrial / commercial energy support — separate scheme for businesses absorbing energy-cost shocks.
Annual subsidy expenditure
Cumulative across 2022-2025 inclusive: comfortably above €1.5 billion, on track for €2 billion or more by end-2026. The €1 billion mark was passed sometime in mid-2024.
Why annual spend has fallen since 2022
The 2022 peak (~€600M) reflects the highest wholesale gas and electricity prices in the post-Ukraine-invasion shock. Since then:
- Wholesale gas prices have fallen substantially from the August 2022 peak (~€330/MWh) to a 2024-25 range of €30-€60/MWh.
- Enemalta's hedging strategy has locked in prices on substantial volumes, reducing exposure to short-term spot moves.
- EU-wide wholesale electricity has stabilised on the back of demand reduction and gas-storage normalisation.
All three trends reduce the gap between wholesale input cost and the frozen retail tariff, lowering the subsidy bill annually.
How does this compare to Malta's overall budget?
Malta's total annual government expenditure runs ~€7-€8 billion. Energy subsidies at ~€350-€600M/year therefore represent 5-8% of total government spending — a substantial line item, comparable to total annual defence-and-foreign-affairs spending or roughly 1/4 of the health budget.
On the policy debate
The €1bn+ cumulative figure is what the European Commission and IMF cite when arguing Malta should phase out the subsidies — the spending is large enough to constrain other fiscal priorities. It's also what Maltese government cites when arguing the policy has shielded households from inflation that has hammered other EU countries' consumers. Both readings are factually anchored on the same underlying number.
So is the claim accurate?
Yes. The €1 billion threshold was passed in 2024; cumulative spend through end-2026 is on track for around €2 billion. True.