Marsaskala cable faults leave residents in the dark for almost 20 hours

Two cable faults that developed in succession on Wednesday night have left many Marsaskala residents without electricity for almost 20 hours.

Parts of the locality went pitch black just after 11pm on Wednesday with electricity returning briefly before going back off. 

Enemalta said two faults developed last night on a high voltage underground cable and emergency repair works were ongoing by Thursday afternoon.

“Due to the extent of the works on the effected underground cables, the repairs are still underway. Until these works are finalised Enemalta is supplying electricity through generators connected to substations, where possible,” the company said.

However, some of the affected streets still had no electricity by Thursday 5pm, leaving residents fuming.

Enemalta has not said when it plans to fully restore electricity supply in the locality.

The outage in Marsaskala is but one of several faults that have developed on the distribution network across Malta over the past fortnight. Electricity demand has soared in the wake of a prolonged heatwave that has afflicted the islands.

On Thursday morning, Energy Minister Miriam Dalli said the problem was not with electricity generation but with the distribution network.

She said the power cuts were “unacceptable” and asked Enemalta to draw up a plan to address the weaknesses on the network.

The Opposition has criticised the government’s lack of investment in the power grid, adding that the frequent outages were happening at a time when the tourism industry was not even operating at full capacity.