'We need electricity guarantee' - minister

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech yesterday said he expected Enemalta to investigate the cause of Friday's nationwide blackout and provide the guaranteed service that everyone expected.

The power cut on Good Friday was the second total blackout in just 11 days, incensing tens of thousands of home and business owners who expect to be at least assured of a service in return for their hefty bills.

Mr Fenech said he had asked Enemalta's chief executive officer Karl Camilleri to draw up a "conclusive and detailed report" on what led to the power cut across the Maltese islands - and to deliver it by tomorrow evening.

Power was only restored to the entire island four hours after it was plunged into pitch darkness, disrupting several Good Friday processions and forcing many establishments to close their doors.

Mr Fenech said the power failure was worrying and raised a number of questions on the fragility of the system. If the report remained inconclusive, he warned he would appoint an independent technical committee to carry out an inquiry to reach its own conclusions and make recommendations.

Mr Fenech also wrote to Enemalta chairman Alex Tranter to set up an ad hoc strategic committee to evaluate a plan for generation capacity at the Delimara and Marsa power stations so that such incidents are avoided.

This exercise, which he said must be concluded by the end of April, should look at the immediate needs until the country had a bigger capacity.

Mr Fenech said four major power cuts in the past 12 months was "unacceptable", although he pointed out that Friday's power outage was not linked to the one that hit the island on March 22, which was attributed to a fault in boiler number seven at the Marsa power station.

He said it would take another 27 months for the new power generation plant to be up and running at Delimara "and the country cannot afford 27 months of uncertainty".

"Is there any investment that needs to be made in the meantime? What can we do to ensure this does not happen again? These are the questions the report will address," the minister told The Sunday Times.

In a statement, Enemalta attributed the power cut to a "switching fault" at the Delimara power station. It said turbine number two was put into operation to meet the demand but failed to synchronise with other turbines, resulting in an overload. The protection devices at Delimara kicked in, shutting down the plant.

Marsa station unsuccessfully tried to stabilise the situation but the load was far too big to cope with. The protection systems at Marsa were also activated, resulting in the total shutdown of the system.

Friday's power outage was also heavily criticised by Labour leader Joseph Muscat who, at a press conference outside Castille yesterday morning, said another report was not what the country needed.

Dr Muscat said the government had several reports on which it could depend to solve the problem but instead it chose to commission another report before taking action. He said consumers were paying the highest electricity rates for the worst possible service.

He described the planned extension to the Delimara power station as "the worst possible solution for the environment".

Vince Farrugia, the director general of the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises - GRTU said the cost of such a blackout was difficult to calculate.

He said, being Good Friday, business was at the "barest minimum" - yet a number of shops and restaurants were forced to shut early.

"Friday's power outage showed us how urgently needed that Delimara power station extension is. We need it as soon as possible... Can we continue to rely on the technocrats at Enemalta? We need an alternative and we need it quick," he said, when contacted.

Mr Farrugia criticised the Malta Resources Authority for not living up to its obligations and to be there for consumers. "Until now all we have seen from the MRA is a Pontius Pilate approach," Mr Farrugia said.

The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association was equally irked at the outage, saying this was "unacceptable", especially given the recent "astronomical" increase in the electricity tariffs.

"The economic damage due to loss of business, disruption and inconvenience to all, and also the negative impression we give our visitors, is now too significant to ignore. In both instances, the supply was off for hours during peak business time.

"In any industry or service, when one pays top dollar one expects top service, which is far from what Enemalta is delivering at present," it said in its angry statement.

The fact that the country was experiencing such problems during a time when the demand for power was considerably less in comparison to the high season did not augur well, it said.

"The time has now come for Enemalta to assume full responsibility for the damage caused, as industry and indeed all consumers have a right to know what is happening and who is responsible for this deplorable state of affairs," it said.