GRTU wants Enemalta to compensate businesses for blackout damage

The Small Chamber of SMEs (GRTU) is demanding that the government offers compensation to business outlets that suffered “great costs” during the nationwide blackout on Tuesday.

The blackout was caused by the explosion of a distribution centre in Marsa, causing widespread energy cuts that lasted into the early hours of Wednesday.

In comments to PN organ In-Nazzjon, GRTU president Paul Abela said that Tuesday’s blackout across all Malta was “one of the largest ever to have taken place in the last years, at a time when businesses are at their busiest.”

Abela said that the GRTU had received ‘numerous’ complaints from businesses who had suffered electrical damage during the blackout. He said the GRTU will ask for a meeting with government representatives and “consider the steps to take”.

“Business outlets have not only lost out on commercial revenues, but also suffered damage to apparatus in shops… some of this damage is long-term,” Abela was reported by In-Nazzjon as saying.

“We are disappointed that even the system at Malta International Airport could not withstand this total collapse of the energy generation system.”

Abela also suggested that since Enemalta’s new shareholder is a foreign investor – the Chinese state-owned Shanghai Power Electric – it was Enemalta that had to carry the can and offer compensation to affected clients and consumers.

Tourism minister Edward Zammit Lewis has demanded a series of technical reports over the closure of the Malta International Airport runway during the nationwide power cut on Tuesday.

Malta International Airport has a system of generators in place to allow it to provide emergency lighting in the event of a power cut, but technical problems to the system led a number of incoming flights being diverted to Catania and Palermo.

In an urgent meeting called by Zammit Lewis, all stakeholders including MIA, Malta Air Traffic Services (MATS) and the regulator of civil aviation were asked to compile technical reports over the unprecedented power outage at the airport.

The minister requested a technical report from each entity and asked for immediate remedies to ensure there’s no repeat of Tuesday’s situation.

Damage to cables linking up to the distribution centre in Marsa on Tuesday evening caused a fire which, in turn, led to an explosion. The Marsa and Delimara power stations were automatically turned off as a precautionary ‘safety trip’ and the nationwide outage ensured.

Whilst power was restored to most localities by the late hours of Tuesday night and early hours of Wednesday morning, some localities were left without electricity as late as Wednesday afternoon.

The extensive damage caused to the distribution centre has limited the availability of alternative distribution channels in the region and Enemalta is now working to restore these alternative connections to be in a better position to swiftly adapt to any other unexpected faults without disrupting supply.