For ciccio: The figure of 9c was me being approximate, you are right.

The cost of capital at 8,4% is mentioned a couple of times in the initial presentation by the Labour Party with respect to their energy programme. Found here (and you will need a Prezi account):

http://prezi.com/hh0r5pwapr7t/pls-energy-vision/

However, it is a figure quoted by the consultants (DNV KEMA) who contributed to the presentation by calculating the Levelised Cost Of Electricity (LCOE) which is a calculation of the cost of generating electricity at the point of connection to a load or electricity grid. It includes the initial capital, discount rate, as well as the costs of continuous operation, fuel, and maintenance (I took this from Wikipedia).

All the capital expenditure options are outlined too, though I found it a bit confusing. Maybe you can make a bit more sense out of it.

You last point is interesting as the LCOE price of 9.6c per kWh does not include the return on investment for the operator. So what will the unit cost be for Enemalta during the first five years (which is fixed).

What I am inferring here is that while Muscat expected Enemalta to lower its tariffs by reducing its return on investment from 8.5% to 5.5% (or even less – Labour had also mentioned a minimum of 4.7%), he is now accepting an offer which has “in excess of 11%” of return on capital to a private monopoly whose main customer is an entity owned by two governments (one of Malta, and the other of China).

Muscat’s suggestion would have crippled Enemalta, its ability to finance capital expenditure, and would have got it into trouble with its banks. It would have resulted in the banks calling in their loans and the government having to honour its guarantees.

Even Standard & Poor’s had criticised Labour’s suggestions.

Now Muscat is paying “in excess of 11%” of profits to third parties, rather than asking for a lower price of electricity and more savings to our households.

See my other detailed comment below.

Gary, where do you quote the 8.4% from? Can’t find it in my copy of the ‘roadmap.’

Again, where do you quote the price of 9c?

I remember Labour had mentioned the cost of 9c6 per unit (1KwH). This was said to be the cost of generation, and therefore excluding profit to the operator and presumably financing costs, as well as transmission costs.

“The 200MW power plant will be constructed by Siemens under a fixed price lump sum EPC Contract. Siemens will also operate and maintain the power plant under a Long Term Services Agreement.”

This was stated in the document published by Gasol plc on their website on 14 October 2013, and which was later withdrawn. The document is compiled by Equity Development, a UK independent investment research company.

EPC means “engineering, procurement and construction.”

What Equity Development is saying is that the cost of the new 200MW plant will be fixed at the outset.

In fact, it seems that the cost of the 200MW plant was already set on 8 January 2013, when Konrad Mizzi announced Labour’s energy plan and had determined that the cost of the 200MW plant will be Euro 166 million.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130108/news/pl-tariffs.452366

However, this is only part of the costs that the government will commit to pay over 18 years. There is the floating storage unit, the conversion of the BWSC plant to gas, the regasifier, the installations, preparation and so on. And then there is the gas and costs of operations, of course.

I haven’t missed anything, and I suspect I’ve been reading the signs better than any of our pundits. Joseph Muscat and the Labour “movement” was carried to victory by right-wing supporters, including Norman Lowell’s Imperium Europa and ostensibly neutral hangers-on such as Kevin Ellul Bonici.

Many of them are anti-Jewish as well as anti-African and anti-Arab. They poured a torrent of insult at Lawrence Gonzi when he tried rapprochement with Israel and the Jewish community in Malta and was photographed wearing a kippa. Now it’s Joseph Muscat who’s wearing it, and at the Yad Vashem too.

So there. It won’t exactly delight Labour voter and Muscat supporter Stephen Farrugia. And many others. And you know what? Serves them right. When you support a man who built his fortunes on contradictions (and lies), you deserve to have this photo shoved in your face.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/10/15/lights_out_across_europe_capgemini_warns/

Dalli managed Aftrican charity?

How many oxymorons in that?

Muscat is not averse to parading sentiments he doesn’t actually feel.

Or did you miss his speech at the UN last month?

No such EU funding has been forthcoming for the Muscat/Shiv Nair/China/Azerbaijan/god-knows-what power project which we have been lumped with because it doesn’t qualify for EU funding.

That’s something else the switchers missed.

Are you allergic to research? All the information you need is in the public domain.

If a few more people asked a few more questions a bit more often, Muscat wouldn’t be getting away with political murder because he wouldn’t be prime minister at all.