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Update | Kirkop Council inviting residents to demand compensation for 48 hour black-out damages
The Kirkop Local Council has invited it's citizens to come forward and file for compensation with Enemalta for damages they may have incurred due to the 48 hour long black-out last weekend.
9 August 2010, 12:00am
Karl Stagno-Navarra
Karl Stagno-Navarra
1 min read
Power was restored late yesterday evening to hundreds of households in Zurrieq, Safi, Kirkop, Mqabba and Qrendi and Hal Far, almost 48 hours after a fire destroyed an Enemalta substation in the area, and engineers struggled to restore the energy supply.
In a statement, the Kirkop Local Council invited residents to register their claims on Thursday evening at the council offices. Other councils are also expected to do the same.
MaltaToday reported that some households were left without electricity from Friday night to late yesterday evening, while others had their supply interrupted twice, and theninterrupted indefinitely.
While many residents called MaltaToday to complain that their fridge supplies had to be thrown away, Lidl Supermarket in Safi operated with large generators in order to keep the refrigeration going and save the meat and dairy stocks.
After a series of media reports, Enemalta released a statement where it admitted that restoration of power due to the damage caused at the Hal Far distribution centre "took longer than usual".
Alfred Galea •
But EneMalta should pay for the damage "suffered" by its customers. Seems to be the rule in Malta, the more you pay the worse things get.
Charles Caruana •
Dr Gonzi, we want your vision 2015 NOW!
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Vision 2015 - tickle me more I can't help laughing. That we have reached rock bottom does not even describe the real state of affairs. A country in complete shambles. Where is the EU standards of competence and accountablility we have fought for? We have been swindled, its no more ghalina, but ghalijhom u ghal uliedhom. And the rest of the population is in a calf deep sea of s**t. A true case of EneZimbabwe. Well done GonzimugabePN. EU country my foot !!!
John Zammit •
While not grumpy by nature, and understand there may be unexpected damage, I would like to ask if what happened this weekend could have been avoided. Most breakdowns could be avoided if regular maintenance is done. Was this the case? Though not a technical person and do not know about electrical equipment, almost 24 hours without electricity is too much. Surely, Enemalta was caught on the wrong foot here - so please, top brass of Enemalta, please take note, so it will not happen again.
Will Enemalta compensate the 100's of families and businesses who lost hundreds (thousands?) of Euros in damaged goods?
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Breaking News
The sub station that burned had called ahead and informed Austin Gatt in advance of its intention to immolate itself and leave thousands of households without electricity for two days with damage to property and productivity running into thousands of euros.
The story has been pieced together from a suicide note found scrawled in grease on the floor of the substation and which had miraculously escaped the conflagration. The substation had been in fact been feeling a bit down after it broke up with a rather dashing dynamo from Marsa.
No conflicts of interest are suspected in this case and even with the forewarning, Enemalta's management said that no contigency plan for such an accident could have been envisioned.
Management continued to say that given that Austin Gatt had been forewarned, no further investigation would be necassary into the incident as talking to Austin Gatt was the equivalent of a papal dispensing of indulgences.
