Former Finance Minister Tonio Fenech has denied Labour claims that the Auditor-General had specifically warned his ministry about the tampering of Smart meters in August 2012.
Writing on Times of Malta today, he said the National Audit Office (NAO) made no reference to the organised tampering by Enemalta people.
“When, on page 19, the Auditor General states that “attempts to tamper utility meters have, of late, rocketed, at a global level” he was not referring to Enemalta but to the methods of tempering with smart meters all over the world.
”This is so much the case that the report also details an NAO exercise on internet information on smart meters and its concern over how much information is available on meter tampering. The issue was therefore not about a racket but the information easily available on the internet on meter tampering and the NAO’s concern over whether Enemalta was taking preventive action.
“The NAO and Enemalta went into every method suggested. The report says that most of the tampering methods were found not to apply to Malta as the meters were different. Of the remaining methods, some proved not to work after technical tests were carried out while others required monitoring by Enemalta.
"However, the biggest control and effective tool against electricity theft was never the smart meter itself, as these are not fool-proof, and this we knew. What was really going to reduce the incidence of theft was the fact that all meters would be electronically linked to a central monitoring system because, as said in the same report on page 19, 'smart meters deployed have the functionality of comparing total billed against total generated power. A discrepancy in these figures raises an automatic alarm'.
"This alarm worked and identified over 1,000 meters that seem to have been tampered with. The system acquired by the Nationalist administration, even though at the time heavily criticised by Labour in opposition, is working. The racket was identified now because it is now that Enemalta is reaping the benefits of its implementation."
Mr Fenech said Labour was avoding the crux of the whole controversy, the involvement of a person close to a minister.
By Labour’s own pre-electoral standards, this was a matter of ministerial resignation, Mr Fenech said.
“We are, as yet, unaware as to the level of involvement of this person but, even if he were just an Enemalta employee who had his meter tampered with, then this in itself is grave coming from the person trusted to liaison between the ministry and Enemalta and who, rather than reporting the racket, collaborated and made personal gain.”