Power-cut hits major residential areas

Major residential areas are experiencing a power outage after Enemalta experienced “certain difficulties with the electricity supply system”, the company said.

The electricity supply was interrupted at around 12.11pm with reports reaching MaltaToday of affected areas that include Birkirkara, Hamrun, St Julians, Swieqi, Attard, Żejtun, Żebbuġ, Fgura, Marsaskala and Qawra.

Supply appears to have returned after a few minutes in some of these localities.

Enemalta said that as a result of these difficulties the system shed supply.

The cause of the power-cut is not yet known but Enemalta has warned that after the interconnector was fatally damaged by a ship’s anchor two days before Christmas.

The company had explained that it had enough capacity at the Delimara power plants to satisfy demand but it also depended on aged diesel plants to sustain the gas-fired plants. Without the interconnector, each time an engine goes out the system automatically balances supply with demand by switching off certain localities until power station engines are re-started.

“While our technical personnel are addressing this matter to restore the electricity supply in the shortest possible time,” Enemalta said.

READ ALSO: Expect power outages to continue as old diesel plants at Delimara are overworked