GWU thanks Enemalta employees

Jeremy J Camilleri

Jun 18th 2009, 21:29

Christopher Demicoli. Workers work on back up systems if instructed to.

So in other words, tghidx cucati.

J Martinelli, Does Delimara powerstation light bulbs in Canada??

Christopher Demicoli

Jun 18th 2009, 01:47

Of course the workers are to blame. Maybe not all of them but those responsible of the uptime of the system are to blame. How come there are no backup systems? What is the administration thinking? Enemalta has a monopoly and it doesn't care about it's customers.

Galea. L

Jun 17th 2009, 22:02

Jeremy J Camilleri Mr P Camilleri may still be frustrated from the recent events and wants to show his hatred towards the EneMalta workers and the GWU. Franco Farrugia The same will happen if there is a sudden overload because the load (demand) would suddenly switch over to the undersea cable which would trip the circuits to prevent damage to the cable. We need our own energy sources and not rely on imported electricity. This does not mean that we should not be connected to the European grid so that in case of an emergency we can still have emergency services supplied with the necessary power, but first we should have our own house in order and not rely on foreign supplies.

J Martinelli

Jun 17th 2009, 20:19

@ John Sammut We are paying the price for progress. Twenty years ago we depended solely on the Marsa power station but the demand kept rising so the government, despite many obstacles found a way of investing in the Delimara station. The increase in demand did not stop since people had the means of buying power hungry appliances such as washing machines, electric tumblers, air conditioners, etc. The expectation that Delimara could handle all the demand proved to be wrong and the older station was kept in service. The outage is only partially attributable to aging equipment and Delimara had nothing to do with it even if two turbines were being overhauled. No power station has all the turbines running all the time since if something had to go wrong due to lack of maintenance then a number of turbines would probably go down simultaneously. You are right however that "the modernisation of the power generation should have taken number one priority a long time ago". In the 80s, the Marsa station was over 30 years old and no plans were made for its upgrade/replacement! The Delimara station is only 20 years old and in process of being upgraded.

Ethelbert Schembri

Jun 17th 2009, 19:06

@ P. Camilleri The fact that you are writing on this blog is the proof that you are totally wrong, this is because if it wasn’t for the efficiency of the workers you would be still without electricity. And if you imagine that these workers have a phenomenal pay, well you are totally wrong again. Everyone is talking about the new plant but no one ever talks about the old plant that at the time of its commissioning in the 60s, 80s and 90s was already old and with superseded technology so imagine now. And the efficiency of all the workers is in the fact that they continue working and supplying electricity to date with relatively few power cuts. And YES the GWU will defend these and every worker and will fight to guarantee job security. Well-done and thanks to all Enemalta employees

Mario Grixti

Jun 17th 2009, 17:50

P Camilleri, Il-qtugh tad-dawl kif jidhol il-haddiem hlief li hadem u irsista biex xi hadd bhalek jerga jkollu id-dawl u l-ilma. Alla Hares ma jkunx hemm il-unions ghaliex kieku xi wiehed bhalek tibqa ssir sinjur minn fuqhom.

Jeremy J Camilleri

Jun 17th 2009, 17:30

So in other words, is P Camilleri asking for a return to the 80's wage freeze policy?

If of course, that is not the case, does P Camilleri expect workers with a decent pay to be responsible for everything?

So according to him, these workers should have God like control on anything they touch, magically preventing technical faults from occuring.

Now, it is either the case of P Camilleri being bitter because he has not managed to obtain a pay rise in years, in which case he should join a union, or he has no idea of what being a worker entails.

It is sad to note that class hatred is still alive and kicking in Malta Cattolicissima.

Franco Farrugia

Jun 17th 2009, 16:04

This episode shows once again the urgent need for the Maltese Government to import energy from abroad, probably from nearby Sicily, through submarine cables! That way, even Enemalta will finally loose its monopoly.

P. Camilleri

Jun 17th 2009, 15:14

Yeah sure... A big thank you to all Enemalta employees for leaving us a whole day without the most basic need in today's world....A big thank you to Enemalta & whoever is responsible.... !! We should all be very grateful indeed..... GWU, please spare us your comments & proclamations cause they don't work anymore. And if there is someone to blame for the inefficiencies in these corporations, it is you guys constantly demanding pay rises & defending those who are a daily liability, producing practically nothing, but still enjoying their "guaranteed" workplace! But still we should all be "Thankful"....!

John Sammut

Jun 17th 2009, 13:30

If anything this outage has proved without any shadow of doubt how the Energy Sector has been running on outdated turbines as no investment was made either to modernise the plant or in new (green) technology. Now we are all paying the price for this grave mistake as the utility prices are very high when compared to the rest of Europe. Who cares about having state of the art meters when the modernisation of the power generation should have taken number one priority a long time ago, not now that we have a crisis. Another example of management by crisis!

Paul Barrett

Jun 17th 2009, 12:51

I think a thanks should also go to ISPs and the staff of Times of Malta for their effort to keep the public informed - at least for those with a generator they could at least get updates on what was happening and pass the news on to those less fortunate.

Gianni Xuereb

Jun 17th 2009, 11:51

It is the system that is vulnerable, but someone has to be held accountable for this FIASCO. Yes these things happen about... and heads start to roll too.

On a side note: Everyone knows that Mater Dei hospital consumes as much energy as the whole of Gozo. Obviously no new turbines were installed to make up for this hungry monster. Who is accountable for this ? The conclusion: Malta = managment by crisis!

Adrian Borg

Jun 17th 2009, 11:32

Do not blame the Enemalta worker ... blame Joe Plumber, as the latter is responsible for the PowerStation's upkeep!

Galea. L

Jun 17th 2009, 11:27

Thanks to the EneMalta employees who did their best under extreme conditions.
No one blamed the workers, but those who do not listen to their advice and who pull the political strings.