The lack of electricity on a hot August night, the discarded food, angry residents and a two-hour closure of the runway were all the result of a single faulty cable.

The nationwide power outage on Tuesday night was caused by a chain of events triggered by an underground fault to a cable that fed into the Marsa distribution centre, according to Enemalta. But as electricity was restored to most households by the early hours, residents in Qormi, Luqa, Żebbuġ and Siġġiewi were left fuming.

Electricity there only returned at around 3pm yesterday, prompting many to call the Times of Malta newsroom complaining about the food they had to throw away from their fridges and freezers.

The water supply to localities like Sliema, Msida, San Ġwann and Birkirkara was cut off until late yesterday since the Pembroke reverse osmosis plant was still without electricity.

Enemalta apologised for the blackout. It explained that the fault sparked a fire which led to an explosion at the distribution centre, causing both Marsa and Delimara power plants to trip.

The outage at 8.50pm was bad for restaurants but good for kiosks, which catered for customers of the paralysed eateries.

As Enemalta was counting the cost of damage from the blast, the airport was left wondering what went wrong when all emergency power supplies failed to kick in.

Its runway was closed for about two hours and some flights were diverted to Catania.

Economist Lino Briguglio said it was difficult to assess the economic cost of a power outage. But apart from the direct impact on Enemalta, it would have hit gaming and financial service firms dependant on computer servers.

Other costs would be borne by restaurants in the form of lost clients and possibly food having to be thrown away.