In Europe electricity prices are increasing, not in Malta.
Byron Camilleri
Consumer electricity prices in the EU were 4.0% higher in September 2026 than a year earlier, and have risen every month since April. Malta's showed no change in any month. The rise is not universal, though: six member states, including Germany, saw electricity get cheaper. However, all six started from a higher price than Malta's, and still pay more.How we reached this verdict ↓
Analysis and evaluation
Malta's electricity prices have not moved in the past year, while the EU average has been climbing since the spring. Over the year to September 2026, consumer electricity prices across the EU rose by 4.0%, the latest month Eurostat has published. In Malta, the change was 0.0% in every month.
The EU average has risen every month since April
Eurostat's harmonised consumer price index tracks what households pay for electricity. Measured against the same month a year earlier, the EU average was falling at the start of 2026, at −1.7% in January and −0.2% in March. It turned upwards in April, at 1.0%, then reached 3.6% in June and 4.0% in September.
Malta's line is flat because household tariffs are fixed by the government and Enemalta, with the difference covered by state support. The same index shows no change in any month of the period.
Most member states, not all
Of the 27 member states, 20 saw electricity become dearer over the year to September 2026. Italy (+20.4%), Sweden (+16.9%), Greece (+15.0%) and Belgium (+13.1%) recorded the largest rises. Six saw prices fall: Luxembourg (−22.9%), Czechia (−10.6%), Denmark (−10.2%), Austria (−9.3%), Germany (−5.5%) and Finland (−4.0%). Malta was the only member state with no change.
So "Europe" holds as a description of the average and of most countries, but not of every country. Germany, the largest economy in the bloc, saw its electricity prices fall.
Those six still pay more than Malta. In the first half of 2026, before the latest falls, a medium-sized household paid €0.3618 per kWh in Germany, €0.3260 in Austria, €0.2884 in Czechia, €0.2694 in Finland, €0.2375 in Denmark and €0.2023 in Luxembourg, against €0.1268 in Malta.
Malta has paid about half the EU price for years
The fixed tariff matters more over a longer period. In the second half of 2020, a medium-sized household in Malta paid €0.1301 per kWh against an EU average of €0.2153. By the second half of 2023, after the energy crisis, the EU average had risen to €0.2847 while Malta's price was €0.1279. Malta's price has stayed within a cent of €0.13 throughout.
| Period | Malta (per kWh) | EU average (per kWh) | Malta vs EU |
|---|---|---|---|
| H2 2020 | €0.1301 | €0.2153 | −39.6% |
| H2 2021 | €0.1318 | €0.2415 | −45.4% |
| H2 2022 | €0.1284 | €0.2768 | −53.6% |
| H2 2023 | €0.1279 | €0.2847 | −55.1% |
| H2 2024 | €0.1303 | €0.2887 | −54.9% |
| H2 2025 | €0.1296 | €0.2896 | −55.2% |
| H1 2026 | €0.1268 | €0.2832 | −55.2% |
Household consumers using 2,500 to 5,000 kWh a year (band DC), all taxes and levies included. H1 2026 figures are provisional. Source: Eurostat, dataset nrg_pc_204, updated 19 October 2026.
The rise is recent
Eurostat's separate half-yearly survey of household electricity prices, which runs to the first half of 2026, still shows the EU average dipping, from €0.2896 per kWh in the second half of 2025 to €0.2832. The increase in the monthly index comes after that period. Over the same half-year, Malta's price was €0.1268 per kWh, under half the EU average.
Editorial note
How we assessed this claim
We read "Europe" as the European Union and compared the EU average with Malta, using Eurostat's harmonised index of consumer prices for electricity, the measure Eurostat publishes monthly for every member state.
We read "increasing" as a statement about now, so we used the latest month available, September 2026, and the twelve months before it.
True, because the claim holds for the EU average and for 20 of the 27 member states. Six saw prices fall over the same year, Germany among them, but all six still pay more than Malta, so the contrast the speaker drew stands.
Limitations
- The harmonised index measures the change in prices, not their level. For levels we used Eurostat's half-yearly household price survey, which only runs to the first half of 2026.
- Malta's fixed tariffs are funded by state support to Enemalta. This fact check covers the price consumers pay, not the cost of keeping it fixed.