Power at Zurrieq, Hal Far, Kirkop, Safi and Mqabba is expected to be restored between 6 and 9 p.m. this evening, an Enemalta spokesman said.

These areas lost power early yesterday morning following a fire at the Hal Far distribution centre. Last night and today thousands of households were without electricity.

Enemalta said that following the fire, its technicians tried to distribute the load of affected localities onto different sources to bypass the damaged equipment. When the load was shifted, power was restored to all localities. But other faults occured yesterday, affecting nearby areas.

The corporation said that due to the works on the Hal Far distribution centre, a key node in the distribution network, restoration of power was taking longer than usual.

While Enemalta technicians and engineers were on site working to fix the faults, other employees were building a temporary high voltage switchgear panel which would be used to restore supply and replace the switchgear damaged by the fire.

Residents from the affected areas have complained with timesofmalta.com that the contents of their fridges and freezers had all been destroyed.

Lidl Supermarket in Kirkop brought in a large generator to keep its freezers going.

Some people were seen sleeping on balconies, where they could enjoy a breeze.