Businesses will not receive any of the compensation being proposed for those left more than 12 hours without electricity last Tuesday, the government confirmed yesterday.
The financial package being proposed would only be given to domestic users and was not being considered for any commercial entities, a government spokesman told The Sunday Times of Malta.
“This is more about the government’s goodwill than compensation. This is not meant to compensate for damages or losses.
“It is being based on our pro-customer approach as a government,” he said, adding that the main customers were households and families, not businesses.
The spokesman insisted the State energy provider was not issuing compensation. Instead, the government was “giving a cheque to Enemalta, which it will distribute in the best manner”.
The entire island was plunged into darkness on Tuesday night after an explosion at a Marsa power distribution centre caused the Delimara power plant to shut down.
Most of Malta and Gozo was relit that night, but parts remained with no power for more than 15 hours.
Following the blackout, the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises, GRTU, called on the government to compensate businesses that had lost out on trade and suffered damages.
We haven’t given up on compensation
GRTU president Paul Abela said yesterday he would write to Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi tomorrow for a meeting to discuss compensation.
“We haven’t given up on getting compensation for our members. If it’s not resolved through discussions with the government we will take the matter further, we will see what other possibilities are available to us at law,” Mr Abela said.
GRTU vice president Philip Fenech, meanwhile, queried the reasoning behind the decision.
“My question is: does this make sense, is it logical?
“Is the government under the impression that businesses weren’t as impacted as much as households by this?
“Because that is certainly not the case,” he said, adding that business losses due to the blackout could run into millions of euros.
The households’ compensation will be based on daily power consumption and will likely take the form of a discount on users’ energy bills.
The spokesman explained the government was creating a formula that would give users a day’s discount on a day’s worth of electricity multiplied by a “yet-to-be-established” denominator.
“We are still working out the formula so it is too early to say, but we will be giving users back more than just their daily consumption,” he said.
The average daily domestic consumption rate is around 12 power units, amounting to some €2.
Enemalta CEO Frederick Azzopardi told this newspaper only a few thousand houses spent more than 12 hours in the dark.
“When it comes to those households that were cut off for more than 12 hours we are mainly talking about the localities which were being supplied by the Marsa station: Marsa, Qormi and some parts of the south,” he said.
Although this is the first time in recent history that the government has offered compensation as a result of a nationwide power cut, it is not the first time a discussion on the matter has been held.
Back in 2010, the Ombudsman had harshly criticised Enemalta for refusing to compensate several families who had suffered damages following a blackout.