How to estimate your electricity costs in Malta

Have these details beside you

Check that the account is on the residential tariff. The residential bands below should not be used for a domestic, commercial or other account category. Take the consumption in kWh, the start and end dates and the supply type from your bill.

If you have two actual readings, subtract the earlier reading from the later one. For example, a meter moving from 12,450 to 12,910 has recorded 460 kWh. Enter 460, not 12,910. Check whether the bill uses actual or estimated readings before comparing its total.

• Consumption during the period, in kWh.
• Number of days in that same period.
• Residential account category and service charge.
• Any separate adjustments, rebates or credits.

The price rises in bands

REWS lists annual residential band boundaries at 2,000, 6,000, 10,000 and 20,000 kWh. The rates are €0.1047, €0.1298, €0.1607, €0.3420 and €0.6076 per kWh respectively. Crossing a boundary does not reprice all earlier units at the higher rate.

The published annual service charge is €65 for single phase, €140 for three phase at 40A and €195 for three phase at 60A. Consumption bands and fixed charges are proportioned to the billing period.

Sources: REWS: residential electricity tariffs.

A clear example before reductions

For a full 365-day period using 2,500 kWh on a single-phase residential account, split the usage across the first two annual bands. This example shows the base tariff calculation and deliberately leaves account-specific credits separate.

Why this may differ from your bill

The eco-reduction depends on registered occupants, consumption thresholds and reading conditions. For one person, the annual threshold is up to 2,000 kWh. For more than one, annual usage must be below 1,750 kWh per person. The regulations require actual or customer readings for the reduction.

The base estimate keeps this reduction separate. Use any optional reduction scenario only after checking the account conditions. Solar export credits, subsidies, arrears, previous payments and reconciliation are not a change to the unit price and are outside the base calculation.

For a short bill, use its actual number of days rather than assuming every two-month period contains 60 days. If a result differs from the account, compare the period, readings, tariff and line items before drawing a conclusion about an overcharge.

Sources: Electricity Supply Regulations, First Schedule.