Enemalta said this morning that irregularities in a Smart meter in Pieta had been confirmed by its inspectors despite an assault on them last Friday.

A father and son were taken to court yesterday and accused of assaulting the inspectors and a policeman. They pleaded not guilty.

Enemalta condemned the incident and said it was committed  to curb irregularities.

Fredrick Azzopardi, chairman said stealing electricity was a very serious crime and trying to hide this abuse by resorting to violence was a cowardly act which could not be tolerated. He urged the authorities to send a clear message that such behaviour was unacceptable.

“At the same time, we commend the team of employees who are working diligently and tirelessly to clamp down on electricity theft. In 2014, the efforts of these workers led to unprecedented results – in one year, Enemalta cut down electricity theft losses by 33%. It carried out over 800 inspections, identifying and stopping over 500 cases of electricity theft.”

Last year, Enemalta introduced several measures to curb electricity supply irregularities. The company conducted more random inspections and started using specialised tools to identify irregularities in electricity consumption readings. In September the government’ revised electricity theft regulations and increased penalties for perpetrators caught stealing electricity, raising fines from 10% to 200% of the cost of the stolen electricity.