Updated 10.15pm

The spate of mostly short power cuts continued in several localities throughout Wednesday with outages reported in several parts of Malta, including in parts of Birkirkara, Gudja and Ibraġ.

As the evening progressed, power cuts longer than three hours were reported in a number of localities, including in parts of Naxxar and Għargħur with power returning to Naxxar at 10.15pm.

Enemalta warned on Wednesday morning warned that short power cuts were possible as its engineers and technicians continue to work on a damaged underground cable that caused outages in the central part of Malta late on Tuesday and overnight.

The cable damage caused power cuts in parts of Naxxar, Għargħur, Mosta and Lija, among other localities, starting from around 6pm on Tuesday evening.

While it was restored within an hour in some areas as supply sources were shifted between sub-stations, other areas endured a miserable night, with longer power cuts meaning fans and air conditioners could not be used on the warmest night of the year so far.

Enemalta said power to all areas was restored shortly after 4am.

It said the cable was damaged by hot weather which caused load to rise quickly, but it assured that despite a rise in demand caused by the hot weather, it has enough supply capacity.  

There were more power cuts during the day on Wednesday and also in the evening with Għargħur suffering a power cut for the second day in a row.

On Wednesday afternoon, Energy Minister Miriam Dalli said the issue was addressed "immediately" by engineers.

She said the damage was caused by a simultaneous spike in demand and supply.

"This is a situation that the country has faced for many years and it is a technical situation that we are trying to address and ensure a decrease in interruptions," she said.

"Enemalta is continuously investing to make sure there is stability where distribution is involved."