'People should be compensated for blackout'

The widespread blackout last Tuesday was caused by the government's lack of investment in Enemalta's power stations and the people should be compensated, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said yesterday.

The massive power cut that left Malta and Gozo without electricity for a day on Tuesday could have been pre-empted, he said.

A day after the power cut, Enemalta chairman Alexander Tranter ruled out compensation saying the situation was due to "extraordinary circumstances". But Dr Muscat insisted yesterday that the blackout was the result of incompetence and lack of investment.

"Utility bills are the biggest problem businesses and families face. Will the government give some form of benefit to the thousands who suffered during the power cut," he asked.

He referred to an Enemalta report drawn up in 2006 warning that capacity would not be enough to meet demand by the summer of 2009 unless investment was made.

The authorities have ruled out that the blackout had anything to do with an overload in demand.

But Dr Muscat queried this as well, saying he suspected that a secondary reason for the high energy tariffs was to cut consumption because the power stations could not keep up with the demand.

He pointed out a discrepancy of €63 million between official figures and what Investments Minister Austin Gatt recently claimed Enemalta received in subsidies from the government.

In Parliament, Dr Gatt said that in 2008 the government paid Enemalta €135 million in subsidies, Dr Muscat pointed out, adding that this did not tally with official figures that indicated the energy corporation only received €72 million.

According to Enemalta's 2007 annual report, it had received about €37 million in subsidies. Moreover, the statistics office recently released figures showing that the corporation received an extra €36 million in 2008, Dr Muscat said. The two figures added up to about €72 million in subsidies and not €135 million as announced by Dr Gatt.

Dr Gatt let slip during the election campaign that the utility rates were equivalent to an 185 per cent surcharge, a figure that the Labour Party had always quoted, Dr Muscat pointed out.

Earlier this week, Dr Gatt corrected himself, saying it was equivalent to 125 per cent.

"Our calculations are precise and Dr Gatt's original statement confirmed this," Dr Muscat said.