Enemalta last year paid almost double what it handed out in compensation in 2008 to clients for damages to their property sustained as a result of surges and power cuts.

Official statistics show that the debt-ridden corporation paid consumers €65,092 for 151 compensation claims. It had received 258 claims but 107 were found to be unfounded as Enemalta was not to blame.

The figure paid in 2009 is almost double the €33,734 a year earlier. The corporation paid nearly €44,000 in compensation in 2007 and €31,400 in 2006.

A spokesman for Enemalta said that, last year, localities across Malta and Gozo spent a total of 2,350 hours without power.

There were 456 instances when power had to be suspended in order to carry out works.

This amounted to nearly 1,400 hours. Moreover, Enemalta employees had to tend to 252 faults, which exceeded 900 hours in outages.

The compensation paid out last year covered surges and power cuts in over 50 localities. The locality with the largest number of claims was Siġġiewi, with 25 applications in relation to a power surge that took place last March 11.

A surge in Sliema on May 4 led to 16 claims for compensation and 10 claims were filed after a surge on June 2 in Xgħajra.

When asked for a list of appliances and goods that were damaged by the power surges in 2009, a spokesman for Enemalta said that, as this involved third parties, the corporation was not in a position to divulge this information.