As temperatures on New Year’s Eve plummeted and households sought respite by turning on their energy intensive appliances to keep warm, Enemalta registered the highest electricity demand for winter since 2002.

Last Wednesday energy consumption across the Maltese Islands peaked at 350 MW, which was 12 per cent higher than on the same day in 2013, the company said.

However, this was well below Enemalta’s maximum generation capacity, which is currently 571MW including the spare capacity from the old Marsa power plant.

More than 75 workers were on duty as the inclement weather caused damage to the distribution network

An Enemalta spokesman said the increase in load was mainly the result of higher consumption from domestic users. The increase was partially offset by the fact it coincided with the festive period when consumption from industry and other energy intensive sectors drops due to the end-of-year shut downs. The hike in demand comes months after the government slashed domestic energy rates by 25 per cent.

Despite the fact the recent weather was the coldest for December in some 25 years, the peak electricity demand usually occurs during the summer months. The highest electricity demand was registered in July 2007, when peak consumption reached 434 MW.

The last time consumption peaked significantly during the winter months was on January 7, 2002, when the load reached 369 MW.

In a statement, the company yesterday thanked its employees for their commitment during the festive period. At one time, more than 75 workers were on duty as the inclement weather caused damage to the distribution network, Enemalta said.

In addition, company technicians and engineers were also called to restore power to a number of customers who were left with no electricity after overloading their electricity circuits.

Meanwhile Enemalta CEO Frederick Azzopardi together with Shanghai Electric Power officials visited workers who were on duty at the Delimara and Marsa power stations on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.