Enemalta has decreased non-technical losses to a new low, saving up to €30 million last year, it said today.

The company told a news conference that 1,220 cases of electricity theft were concluded last year.

In each case, customers caught stealing electricity signed agreements for the electricity stolen as well as the applicable penalties and interests.

Some of these cases had been left pending for years.

Customers who refused to pay were referred to the police.

The company said that between 2014 and 2015, its employees identified and stopped more than 760 cases of electricity theft, an increase of 25 per cent over the previous four years put together.

Annual non-technical losses in 2012 and 2013 stood at 6.7 per cent and six per cent, respectively, of all electricity distributed to customers. At the end of 2015, annual non-technical losses were down to 2.85 per cent. This level was lower than the EU’s latest available average of 3.9 per cent.

The company said that its technicians and inspectors carried out 1,514 inspections last year, up from some 800 the year before. The company also introduced new anti-theft technologies to its electricity distribution infrastructure.