Anyone hit by power cuts lasting six hours or more to be compensated

Households and businesses that have experienced prolonged interruptions to their electricity supply will be entitled to compensation, the government has announced.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the Energy and Environment Ministry said those who experienced outages of six hours or more during the heatwave of the past few days would be compensated for their losses.

“The compensation mechanism, which has already been applied in previous years, is intended to provide support to those affected by prolonged interruptions to their electricity supply,” the ministry said.

“Our priority has been, and remains, to restore the electricity supply in the shortest possible time. At the same time, we want to ease the difficulties people are facing during this period. We will therefore once again apply the compensation scheme that has been used in the past, while continuing with the unprecedented investment being made in the energy sector,” Minister Miriam Dalli said.

The government thanked all Enemalta employees “who, despite difficult conditions and extreme temperatures, continue to work tirelessly to restore the electricity supply and assist affected communities”.

The government also thanked the public for the cooperation shown throughout what it described as “extraordinary circumstances”.

The statement did not include details on how compensation could be claimed.

The announcement follows days of power cuts across several localities as extreme temperatures placed heavy pressure on Malta’s electricity distribution network.

Enemalta said electricity demand reached a record 741MW on Tuesday, after rising to 713MW the previous day. The company said the sustained heat had contributed to faults in high-voltage underground cables.

Residents in affected areas reported spending several hours without electricity during temperatures exceeding 40°C, leaving some unable to use air conditioning, lifts or medical equipment.

Some said they slept in communal corridors or remained in air-conditioned cars to escape the heat, while others reported having to throw away food that had spoiled in refrigerators and freezers.

Businesses were also affected, with some reporting lost sales, damaged stock and an inability to operate lighting, air-conditioning systems or electronic payment terminals.

A Vittoriosa restaurant owner said customers walked out because of the heat and poor lighting during an outage, while card payment systems were also unavailable.

The Malta Chamber of SMEs called for a structured compensation mechanism that would automatically apply when outages exceeded established thresholds.

It said prolonged interruptions could result in lost sales, damaged stock, cancelled appointments, disrupted production schedules and additional operating costs.

The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association also called for a national climate resilience and energy security plan, warning that repeated power cuts during the peak tourism season could damage Malta’s reputation.

The outages disrupted more than homes and businesses. A UEFA Conference League match at the Centenary Stadium was interrupted by a power failure, while a cut at the law courts temporarily halted the trial of businessman Yorgen Fenech.