Updated 1.55pm
Hundreds of beerfest goers were on Thursday left in the dark when power at the Ta’ Qali National Park went out mid-festival.
On Friday morning, the organisers of the Farsons event told Times of Malta that the source of the power cut at the beerfest's opening night was the substation supplying power to the area.
However, by Friday afternoon, Enemalta said the outage was not caused by a fault in its system. It said it was the organisers themselves who had requested less power than required for the event.
People at the festival reported at least two power cuts: one that lasted around 45 minutes, and the second one around one minute.
Some said there might have been a third power cut when lights dimmed again at around midnight.
Following a series of power cuts over the past few weeks, Thursday's power cut was the last straw for some, who immediately took to social media to complain.
"Beer festival without light. What more do you want," the Malta Dizastru Totali Facebook page asked its followers.
Several commented that the beer festival had been turned into a reading festival, taking a dig at a comment by social wellbeing minister Julia Farrugia Portelli who last year urged a social media user to read a book until power was restored.
"Two power cuts at the beer festival this evening. They can’t even organise a piss-up in the proverbial brewery," one reader told Times of Malta.
Another reader said it was "impressive" how dark the Ta' Qali park could get without power.
"People were using phone torches to find their way around. People still stayed on. The singer Aidan thanked the crowd for staying on despite the power cuts.
"WiFi connection was terrible too. The connection was so patchy that the people selling festival souvenirs had trouble with their tablets and POS."
But unlike the festival goers, Farsons was "prepared for the possibility of a power cut" and had a generator on standby to ensure the festival could carry on.
"The source of the power cut is not yet clear and a meeting is being held on site between engineers from Enemalta, the team from the National Park, our lighting contractors and ourselves to identify the cause and take any action necessary," a spokesperson told Times of Malta on Friday morning.
Hours later, Enemalta said that the power cut was not caused by its distribution centre.
It said that its technicians and engineers who went to the site when the power cut was reported found that the substation's provision was fine.
"It transpired that the organisers had requested less power than required for the event. It is the organisers' responsibility to identify and prepare accordingly."
This year's festival is the 42nd annual event by Farsons. It kicked off on Thursday and is expected to close on August 3.
This is the second summer in a row that residents have to put up with persistent power cuts as temperatures soar.
Last week, some localities remained without electricity for more than 20 hours.
Malta’s constituted bodies have warned that power cuts are harming businesses and residents, inflicting heavy costs in damage, and denting the country’s economic development.
Enemalta has since installed 14 diesel-powered generators in various localities around Malta to cope with the crisis.