Enemalta electricians worked throughout the night to repair cable faults that caused a brief power outage in Sliema on Friday afternoon.

The loud trenching works left many residents around High Street without a good night’s sleep.

A high-voltage cable supplying a Sliema substation caused the outage, leaving parts of the locality without power shortly before 3pm. Power was restored an hour later as hundreds of homes, offices and establishments were supplied through alternative cables.

Enemalta workers soon arrived on site and began repairing two cable faults in the Sliema area.

Repairs continued throughout the night, prompting complaints from several Sliema residents.

“Why are they digging in High Street at this hour,” a resident posted on Facebook at around 11.30 p.m. Another added: “All that noise from jackhammers at midnight is totally unacceptable!”

“Again?” one commented on a residents' Facebook group.  

Major works on High Street and some of the roads around it were only completed in March. 

The Enemalta spokesperson said immediately repairing faults was necessary to maintain current flexibility and the option to switch to alternative cables should there be other faults. 

Sliema mayor John Pillow said the works were a necessary burden to ensure a reliable power supply to the locality.

Power cuts were reported in Gwardamanga, Sliema and Qormi, among other areas in the last two days.

The power cuts have prompted fears of a repeat of last year when several outages were reported during a major heatwave.