Chamber calls for urgent measures against electricity thieves

The Malta Chamber of Commerce has commended government for its 'decisive' action in uncovering the abuse carried out by Enemalta employees in which smart meters were tampered with to record a significantly lower amount of electricity output.

In recent weeks, the state energy corporation discovered that around 1,000 smart meters had been tampered with and, according to Enemalta officials, the investigation was still at a preliminary stage.

A specialised unit set up at Enemalta, the Theft Control Unit, is currently studying analytics that could lead to more sources of theft.

95% of tests carried out on suspicious smart meters - mostly installed in private residences and SMEs such as grocers, butcher shops and other shops - proved that the smart meters had been tampered with.

It appears that the smart meters were opened and a chip inserted to bridge the resistors. The more resistors that are bridged, the less units are registered. The "expert" job caught smart meters provider Enel by surprise who at first could not find anything wrong with the equipment.

Describing the news that Enemalta had been losing some €30m a year in loss of revenue as 'perturbing', the Chamber said that it was certain that this 'contributed in no small way' to Malta having the third highest electricity rates across all the EU member states.

"Whilst the announced action against abuse is commendable, we expect Enemalta and government to implement, with urgency, proper governance and internal control procedures and processes," a statement issued by the Chamber read.

"These are deemed necessary to curb abuse and enhance efficiency that will lead to a fairer distribution of the cost of electricity generation and distribution in Malta across all users," it said.