Malta, a small rocky island in the middle of Mediterranean Sea offers good weather, great historical and cultural sights to see and intense night life. For a person visiting Malta for a short stay of a week or two living in a hotel the cost of electricity does not matter. For those who rent in Malta utilities bill can be a surprise after first month of rent.
Cretids: Resident on Earth, flickr
Malta does not produce any of its electricity on the island. Everything is imported and this drives prices up. Current price of electricity in Malta is around 0.20 EUR cents per Kwh.
In most of EU countries we are used to have hot and cold water which in most cases has different price, heating during cold season, electricity and in some houses also natural gas for cooking.
In Malta there is only cold water which is heated with boiler powered by electricity. Summer months on Malta are very hot and can be extremely humid. Although most houses in Malta are built to keep cold inside in some months and in case apartment has big windows on the sunny side in gets very hot. For that you have air-conditioning which adds another 40-80 EUR to your monthly bill.
In cold months, starting mid-November and up to beginning of March air gets chilly. As on Malta there is no central heating system the temperature inside apartment is basically the same as outside. Humidity is high and adding cold air to that you get a perfect climate for mold. In this case again, air-conditioning is used to get some worm and dehumidify the room.
To give you an example; a two-bedroom apartment with 2 people sharing, without turning on air-conditioning (May is still OK month, not too hot) and being away for half of the day electricity bill is at least 50-60 EUR (consuming around 250 Kwh). Adding 3-4 hours of air-condition this number can hit 100-150 EUR a month.
What to do to save money?
Start with saving on most obvious things; such as don’t leave light on in rooms you don’t use. Turn on boiler 20-30 minutes before you want to use it and after turn it off. If you can stand white light from energy-saving lamps them buy those for lamps you use the most.
Don’t turn lights on if you can get daylight. Don’t run TV as a background if you are not watching it. Separate usage of your laptop and TV if you can. Turn off electrical appliances completely; do not leave them in “sleep” mode as they still consume some electricity.
