Enemalta CEO Jonathan Cardona said that he is hopeful that by the coming weekend, the power cut situation will be close to being completely fixed, and the energy distribution around the country will be close to normal.
Asked by journalists on Tuesday, the CEO said that the situation would return ‘close to normal’ only if most of the faults are fixed and no new ones occur.
In giving an update, he said that on the same day, the country has hit a new record of 663 mega watts of energy usage, between 2 pm and 3pm.
Enemalta workers are currently addressing eight faults on a daily basis.
Starting from last Monday, a total of 81 cable faults took place with 53 of them being recurring ones.
The CEO continued by saying that if on Wednesday the temperatures decreases, this will be “a relief” for the system. Moreover, workers will have time to cover more work, as less faults are less likely to occurr.
On the whole, Cardona said that if the temperature were to decrease by 10 degrees, this would definitely benefit the distribution system as the temperatures penetrating the ground would not be so hot.
On the PN pressuring the government to call for a national crisis, Energy Minister Miriam Dalli said that this is not the time for drama, adding that if Prime Minister Robert Abela were to call for a national emergency “there wouldn’t be much done differently”.
Asked about the daily sufferings of people, especially those who ended up on the very brink of poverty after throwing away food, the Minister was also asking details of these families to journalists so they can be better addressed with other concerned ministries.
The energy minister said that the government’s priority right now is to address the energy shortage around the country and did not give any update on the compensation scheme promised.
Enemalta Chairperson Ryan Fava said together with the energy minister and Enemalta CEO all thanked the workers who are working around the clock and braving this summer heat.