Enemalta asked to say what it would do about power cuts
The Labour spokesman on Enemalta, Joe Mizzi, has called on the corporation to explain what it will be doing about the repeated power cuts reported in many localities this summer.
In a statement, Mr Mizzi said the power cuts showed how the government had not invested enough in the power distribution system and the system could not cope with demand.
Indeed, had it not been the case that the high power rates were restricting power consumption, there would have been more faults.
Mr Mizzi said the frequent and long power cuts were detrimental to the people in general as well as businesses and tourism..
He said there were five reasons for the current situation:
The first was high demand which the distribution system could not cope with because of poor investment planning.
Furthermore, many of the cables were old and needed to be replaced.
Thirdly, damage was also caused by uncoordinated road works by private contractors, a situation which could be avoided.
There were also problems in the joints of several cables, and it was clear that cables which had several joints should be replaced.
Lastly, a problem was caused by the fact that low voltage cables were buried in the ground rather than passed through ducts. The current practice, while cheaper than using ducts, was not sustainable, Mr Mizzi said.
He said Enemalta should give a credible explanation of the current situation, and what it would do about it.
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Yosef Scerri
Aug 20th 2012, 23:01
here's the solution. We have to invest more in solar products like P.V.'s to relieve the tension on the poor old and 'new' power stations'
martin said
Aug 20th 2012, 19:08
Sick and tired of this screwed up country RED & BLUE (Green also).
Unfortunately i'm too old to escape!
Robert Calafato
Aug 20th 2012, 21:38
How right you are Sir!
My 89 year old father is right when he says that the Maltese mentality is the same today as it was when he was a kid! We will never be able to have an objective discussion about anything in this country!
I too am too old to escape, but at least my son managed!
martin said
Aug 20th 2012, 19:04
Sick and tired of this screwed up country RED & BLUE (Green also).
Unfortunately i'm too old to escape!
Mr Andrew Camilleri
Aug 20th 2012, 18:29
So instead on spending on silly 'gardens', government should invest in a proper infrastructure to provide a decent electrical service.
E. Azzopardi
Aug 20th 2012, 17:38
Well he is right and all these powers cuts are deplorable but the People would love to hear what YOU would do about it if in government?
Come on, give us the solution for this and for a million other things which are not going right.
Alfred Vassallo
Aug 20th 2012, 16:56
I would like to ask these pn apologists whether it is true that the pn had to close Marsa power station years and years ago. Did they? Definitely NO. Even the eu started, and still is, asking the government to close it down. And after building the Delimara power station which they said was sufficient to take on the whole of Malta they had to EXTEND IT, AND YET IT'S NOT ENOUGH. Gaffe one after the other and all this after 25 YEARS of hakma nazzjonalista. So how can these people have the bare faced cheek to ask the LP what, how, and when if they are in power. The labour party needs AT LEAST 5 years to get the extent of the vile mess that the pn left the country in.
Edgar Gatt
Aug 20th 2012, 16:48
Mr. Mizzi said that the problem was the high demand. So in a few months time with the Socialist Movement is in government and the electricity rates going down drastically, the demand will certainly increase. For one I shall leave my air conditioner on all day. So would not this extra consumption by all consumers make the present situation much, much worse than it is today .
Mr Andrew Camilleri
Aug 20th 2012, 18:31
Err, Mr Gatt, please read the article again. Mr Mizzi mentioned FIVE reasons, not one and the one you mentioned is qualified. How on earth do you want to comment without having read the article amazes me.
Edgar Gatt
Aug 20th 2012, 18:47
Mr. Camilleri, I did read the article and I maintain that my comment is valid. Unfortunately, I always take Mr. Mizzi's comment with a pinch of salt after he had declared in 2008 that when Labour would be in power he would strike oil after a few months.! Some people tend to lose their credibilty.
Paul Borg
Aug 20th 2012, 16:15
How about compensation for prolonged power cuts to catering establishments and other businesses like the one in Valletta.
E. De Marco
Aug 20th 2012, 15:31
The Marsa power station was built in 1950 & it used to run on coal. In 1966, under a Nationalist government, it was connected to the electricity grid. In 1995, under a Nationalist government, it started running on oil. I shan't go into details about oil....probably J.Mizzi has first-hand experience, having said on local TV that he has oil-smeared 'stones' in his garage. Regarding water & electricity cuts during labour administration - the best thing is to forget about those horrendous times. One can also recollect that when Delimara was being initially constructed, some particular people used to go on site & pull down the preliminary 'work' being done.
One positive thing that emerged from those waterless & dark days was that bottled water was becoming a very lucrative business, not to mention candle factories' employees that would work 24X7 & having their pay packet double by working overtime to keep up with the demand of candles. And paraffin lamps were the order of the day. Never was moonlight so much appreciated. Beethoven must have turned happily in his grave since a lot of people used to play his famous sonata on their battery-charged radios.....
Robert Henry Bugeja
Aug 20th 2012, 16:08
you must be referring to the dark sixties under G.borg olivier right? the candle industry was in full swing back then especially under the wing of the Church-PN propaganda of the famous 3 days of darkness of 61-62...I wonder what exactly 3 days of darkness meant Mr.De Marco! oh yes, most coincidentally they were attributed to the 62 general election which was held over 3 days and which Mintoff's labour was set to win if the mighty church in coalition with the PN did not horror people with hell stories and the mortal sin!
...but i'm sure you know history very well, sur De Marco.
Peter Simpson
Aug 20th 2012, 16:52
25 years on and you still spice the 80's and try to make us forget the present?
pat muscat
Aug 20th 2012, 15:00
We should ask GonziPn what it is going to do about the power cuts, though the truth is that its remedy 'won't work'!
Joe Vella
Aug 20th 2012, 18:25
Pat, no need to ask. The new capacity at Delimara will soon come on line, and the Inter-connector to the EU Grid is being laid down as we speak. I wouldn't think you would know this from listening to Super One.
Tommy Vella
Aug 20th 2012, 14:49
Indeed, had it not been the case that the high power rates were restricting power consumption, there would have been more faults.
So it seems as if the high power rates have their good points after all.
K. Vella II
Aug 20th 2012, 15:31
What a third world country mentality.
Tommy Vella
Aug 20th 2012, 18:16
@ K Vella II
So in your book, controlling waste, (encouraged by the subsidised price of energy) and in the process caring for the environment is a third world mentality.
Do you use energy-saving bulbs? Have you solar heating?
If so ... what a third world mentality.
John Scerri
Aug 20th 2012, 14:46
Mr.Joe Mizzi Knows NOW how it feels to be without electricity .
In his time he could not understand because he blind folded when MLP was in power
Better late then never .
He should now have the solutions for such things not to happen again after spending so many years on the opposition benches .
So why does he ask EneMalta?
Peter Shaw
Aug 20th 2012, 14:44
We need a Magic Wand to solve these power problems !
ANTHONY PAVIA
Aug 20th 2012, 16:09
Sorry, we needed but did not get an effective administration rather than a political one that has submerged ordinary lives of citizens into such doldrums. Why? Simply to allow bad management practices to flourish. Now they want to correct 25 years of ineptitude in 4 short years.
B Ellul
Aug 20th 2012, 13:53
Sur Mizzi,waiting for you to be in parlament/power since YOU KNOW where is the oil and will dig for it! If not YOU said that YOU WILL resign....
Richard Caruana
Aug 20th 2012, 13:46
Nice one Joe Mizzi.
The MLP is an expert in power cuts, so you should tell us what to do and how to do it!
Anthony Portelli
Aug 20th 2012, 13:29
Good ole Joe/
Your party mlp, are expert in power cuts, including water, Years and years of experience.
People in glass houses
M Grima
Aug 20th 2012, 14:27
That's the problem with PN sympathisers, they are traped in the 1970/80 time zone. You keep digging in the past, when we had limited technology, when with a state-of-the-art power station, we are worst off. And to cap it all we are still dependent on the Marsa power station, which should have been closed down ages ago. This is what you get with GonziPN - mediocrity.
Joe Vella
Aug 20th 2012, 13:27
Perhaps Mr. Mizzi should tell us how much the past PL Governments invested in Power generation and power distribution infrastructure. The answer is ZILCH. Oops, sorry, I forgot they invested in the Marsa Power Station to run on coal. Then the Place the audacity to blame the PN Government for black powder.
Ivan Cutajar
Aug 20th 2012, 14:27
Mr Vella, did you know who build the 6, 7 , 8 Marsa Power station and low cost and still they are working it MLP, we were brought to know that the power cuts in our nation will be of the past but it seen that this is the present to which we the Maltese economy is falling in apart. The MLP was 25 years ago the power so you can not blame the opposition this is call insane to at which the Government is.
M Grima
Aug 20th 2012, 14:30
Perhaps you would tell us Mr. Vella about having a new power station which has cost double to what was budgeted and yet............oops, I am in complete darkness and cannot continue with this blog!!!!
ANTHONY PAVIA
Aug 20th 2012, 16:06
Perhaps you, Mr Vella, would be kind enough to tell us how a transfer from a 3 phase meter to a single phase meter has catapulted from € 55 (as per Arms website 02/08/2012) to € 300 as per mailed form (dated 14/08/2012 although received 20/08/2012) from none other than incompetent ARMS? and if I were to go from single to 3 phase, then a whopping shameful €900.
Mark. Galea
Aug 20th 2012, 13:21
Tinkwetawx nies ... ftit xhur ohra ... imbaghad l-elezzjoni ... 99.9% jirbah il-PL ... imbaghad kontijiet tad-dawl u ilma b'irhis u nahlu kemm irridu ... u daqshekk qtugh fid-dawl ... hekk weghdna l-leader ...
L-importanti hu li nissaportu ftit iehor ...
Nazzareno Cortis
Aug 20th 2012, 14:29
Mark-----x'jaghmel l'LP jekk jerbah l-elezzjoni----wiehed ghad irid jara!!!! Li nafu zgur hu x'wieghed u kemm zamm kelmtu Gonzi PN qabel ---u wara----l-ahhar elezzjoni (bhall impjegati tal-linja,tat taxis,tat tarzna,tal Malta ship building,tas-sea malta,ta l'Air malta----u hafna entitajiet ohra)!!!!
Il problema tafu x'inhi hawn Malta-----li minn dejjem wara gvernijiet Nazzjonalist-----jitla gvern Laburista----jirranga s-sitwazzjoni monitarja mfarrka li jhallu tal PN----wara jerga jitla gvern tal PN (alla hares le----hekk ghandu jkun----gvern jaghmel numru ta snin----u jinbidel)-----u jberbaq ,jimla bid dejn lill pajjiz,u jkisser dak li jkun ghamel gvern laburista!!!! L--istorja dejjem hekk ghallmitna!!!!Haga wahda jiddispjacini ----li minkejja li gvernijiet laburisti minn dejjem kienu l-ikbar ghajnuna ghall fqir,ghall batut,ghall anzjani---ghan nisa,ghat tfal---ghall morda-----dejjem sab konfront enormi mhux mill PN biss---izda wkoll mill kurja politikanta,li dejjem fid deher,jew mhux,ghenu kemm felhu biex ikun hemm gvernijiet nazzjonalisti!!!! Dan bil provi----jekk wiehed ihares lejn il-passat mhux daqsekk imbieghed ikollu l'provi!!!
Joe Vella
Aug 20th 2012, 14:58
Nazzareno, I am not going to answer to every point you raise, because frankly they do not deserve an answer as they are baseless. In regards to Utility Bills, just want to remind you that when a barrel of Oil cost $12.00 The Saint Government double the cost of the Utility bills. That is a fact. One other thing, if the Santa had not fallen in 1998, you and I will be paying a land tax as well. The Pl Governments of the '70's and the 80's left Malta, not only infrastructurally bankrupt, but left Malta with a huge human deficit. Do not go and mention that Mintoff left 500 old Liri in the pot. those were not surplus funds but Reserves. Those funds were there to boost the old Maltese Lira. They couldn't be touched or else the Maltese Lira would be worthless. When Mala joined the Euro Zone, Maltese reserves amounted much more then the 500 million Liri.
Mark. Galea
Aug 20th 2012, 15:03
@Nazzareno Cortis
Il-poplu dawn l-ahhar 25 sena kwazi dejjem ghazel il-PN ghax hekk kien jaqbel ghall-gid tal-pajjiz - u anke lill-PL tah cans, imma il-PL (dak inhar l-MLP) wera li ma kienx kapaci imexxi u postu kien fl-oppozizzjoni. Issa probabli l-poplu jafda l-PL fl-elezzjoni li jmiss ... u nerghu lura ghall-istess ...
Mr Andrew Camilleri
Aug 20th 2012, 18:33
Mark Galea: we are living today and we want solutions today not a load of silly rhetoric.
R. Caruana
Aug 20th 2012, 13:05
Wait for Winter? :)
vincent Lia
Aug 20th 2012, 12:54
What should Hon Mizzi do is to get the LP to say that enemalta is now a Nationional project.
George Calleja
Aug 20th 2012, 12:47
Joe Mizzi is asking Enemalta what is it going to answer about the persistant power-cuts. He should also know the answer. Enemalta will do just the same as it did when il-lejburisti were in office....leave everybody in pitch darkness for days on end....with any compensation at all!!!!!
Angelo Polidano
Aug 20th 2012, 12:42
Will these Labour candidates promise us that if they do not carry out all their promises they are making while in opposition then they will resign if they happen to be elected in government? Or it is all mought and they think that the Maltese public is gullible?
Emanuel Farrugia
Aug 20th 2012, 12:31
Enemalta should compensate Consumers and business outlets who suffered from an electricity failure in their residence or business premises by deducting the payment due for the number of hours involved. No power, no pay.
After all when consumers and retail outlets fail to pay their water and electricity bills, they will soon find out that their electricity supply has been cut off by Enemalta. Of course it is legal but in some cases merciless.
George Cutajar
Aug 20th 2012, 12:21
Now that the election is very, very close and very definitely by next summer there will be a new administration in place it would have made more sense for the Hon. Mizzi to let us know what the movement of which he forms part of would be doing, should it be elected, to prevent the power cuts that have occurred over the past few days.
Do we have a right to know how the movement will tackle these problems? Is this the usual armchair critic?
Wally Vella-Zarb
Aug 20th 2012, 12:37
Do we have a right to know how the present government will tackle these problems? Is this the usual armchair critic?
D Mifsud
Aug 20th 2012, 12:42
We have a right to know how the 6 billion debt raised by the PN administration were spent in the last 25 years.
M Grima
Aug 20th 2012, 14:40
"......to prevent the power cuts that have occurred over the past few days"
You must be joking Dr. Cutajar because the power cuts, with GonzPN's state of the art power station, have persisted for over two months.
As to your eagerness to know what the movement would be doing to solve this permanent problem, please wait a bit longer and you'll get your answer. Meanwhile until the election you can invest in a generator to keep us entertained with your blogs.
George Cutajar
Aug 20th 2012, 15:23
@ M. GRima - If they have persisted over the past two months I have been privileged enough not to have noticed.
As regards having to wait a bit longer until the election that is obviously if the movement does get to win as otherwise well one will have to see.
Meanwhile I do not intend to invest in a generator for now as I do not need one and finally I feel so elated that my blogs are keeping you and others entertained.
Christo Starostin
Aug 20th 2012, 12:16
And exactly where is the money going to come from to make these improvements while also reducing power costs for everyone?
Any answers?
Jeremy J Camilleri
Aug 20th 2012, 12:27
If you don't mind, I think I d rather know how the millions that left Enemalta bankrupt in the last 20 years were spent and why, despite these millions, the country's electricity supply is in its sorry state.
Pierre Mangion
Aug 20th 2012, 12:27
instead of spending millions on the "smart" meters and only God knows how much ARMS is costing enemalta.
furthermore this is not a problem that happened this year - this is an accumulation of failed maintenance over the last two decades. obviously the cost for replacing the cables is more expensive today than yesteryear as the price of the copper has exploded.
Wally Vella-Zarb
Aug 20th 2012, 12:34
If Enemalta were run efficiently there would have been money to spare. Spending hundreds of millions on a plant that is run on HFO only to spend even more millions in converting the same plant to run on gas does not help - except, perhaps, somebody's bank balance.
Christo Starostin
Aug 20th 2012, 13:18
@Jeremy J Camilleri and @Pierre Mangion
Sirs,
I agree with both your viewpoints.
Unfortunately the "lost millions" are already gone (rightly or wrongly), so EneMalta must restart and plan an efficient strategy to recover and recover FAST with whatever resources it has left.
ARMS is of course a joke ... in my career I have implemented billing systems that cope with 500,000+ clients all without hassle. These systems worked according to plan and specification. ARMS is a MESS and should be closed - they are clearly incompetent.
.
Mark. Galea
Aug 20th 2012, 13:23
@Christo Starostin
X'int tinkwieta ... il-leader weghdna kontijiet tad-dawl u l-ilma baxxi ... issa nispera li ma jinsiex il-weghda tieghu
Mr Duncan Scerri
Aug 20th 2012, 13:30
"And exactly where is the money going to come from to make these improvements while also reducing power costs for everyone?"
How about cracking down on tax evasion?
Christo Starostin
Aug 20th 2012, 14:08
@Mark.Galea
I just hope the "leader in waiting" does not disappoint the people by promoting unattainable dreams - but his reluctance to outline realistic and attainable plans to reach those dreams seem to be sorely lacking.
Christo Starostin
Aug 20th 2012, 14:09
@Mr Duncan Scerri
>> "How about cracking down on tax evasion?"
A very good idea sir.
Please choose the reason of your report below: