The European Commission has found Maltese plans to pay Electrogas Malta, operator of the Delimara plant, for providing energy to Maltese electricity company Enemalta, to be in line with EU state aid rules. The measure compensates Electrogas for the additional cost of fulfilling public service obligations. The project aims to decrease electricity prices, reduce environmental damage from energy production, and increase security of supply by diversifying the energy mix. The project will partly replace the existing electricity generation infrastructure in Malta. The support is in line with EU state aid rules, in particular the Commission's 2011 rules on services of general economic interest, which allow Member States, under certain conditions, to compensate companies that have been entrusted with public service obligations for the extra cost of providing these services. The Commission verified in particular that the Maltese energy market cannot adequately deliver the necessary level of service due to its particularly small and isolated character.
