Power cuts in large areas of Paola and Bikirkara were reported this morning as the power distirbution network struggled under strong demand.

Surviving the heat wave by switching on air conditioners has been a greater priority than containing electricity bills over the past few days when Enemalta recorded the highest power demand of the year.

On Thursday, when temperatures neared 40C, the electricity demand soared to 425 megawatts (MW) at 1 p.m., the highest demand registered this year.

The reading was only surpassed in 2007 when the peak demand had reached 434MW on July 23 at the same time.

Although the energy demand was higher in 2007, on Thursday people used electricity for longer periods, Enemalta said when explaining what was leading to a series of power cuts around the island.

Parts of Valletta lost power for a few seconds yesterday morning though in other areas of the capital the supply was interrupted at 11.53 a.m. and was restored at 1.30 p.m.

Several other power cuts were reported throughout the day in different areas including Floriana and Fgura.

The Malta International Airport was also impacted by a fault that lasted just under two hours. This did not affect the airport’s operations as a generator kicked in to support the system, a spokesman said.

This morning parts of Paola suffered a power cut for an hour. Parts of Birkirkara were without power for some three hours.

Enemalta yesterday stressed that its generation capacity stood at 571MW, which was well above the current demand.

The latest string of power cuts was caused by cable faults and could be attributed to the high temperatures and higher loads carried by the distribution cables.

“These cable faults are caused by the increased expansion of the cables and the weakening of the insulation as a result of the higher operating temperature,” Enemalta said.

“Although the cables are designed with these factors in mind, they may fail at weak points caused by a number of possible factors,” it added.