The government says it has been obliged to raise water and electricity rates because of the theft of electricity by various means. This is costing Enemalta millions of euros a year.

Enemalta will now be installing tamper-proof electricity meters to minimise theft, but this can never be eliminated completely.

For some time now I have been writing to different ministers about my suggestion to stop any kind of tampering with the power supply. Enemalta should install a meter, in a metal or PVC box, outside every house, high up next to the power lines, so it will be out of reach, and any foul play will be easy detected.

The old meter should be left in place, and so any cheating will be recorded in the outer meter which will give a different reading from the one inside. This will identify the real culprits.

Now if this is not failsafe, I want to know what is. By merely changing meters you will not stop the theft of electricity, because one can still pin the supply to the incoming cable and obtain electricity before it is registered on the meter.