The weekend is approaching and there's no reprieve in sight. Temperatures are expected to continue hovering in the forties, putting a major strain on the electricity grid. 

Thousands of households and shops remain without electricity compounding the frustration.

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LIVE BLOG

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Powering off

6pm We are pausing our live coverage after day four of power cuts as Malta continues to swelter in a heatwave of temperatures above 40℃.

It's still unclear exactly when the issues will be resolved. Enemalta has blamed sustained heat for penetrating the road and impacting cables. And the heatwave is not going to end any time soon. 

Energy Minister Miriam Dalli has still not said what - if any - compensation families or small businesses might receive as we've heard from people having to throw out food during a cost-of-living crisis.

We'll continue to update you in the days to come. Thank you to the thousands of you who have logged on.

Journalists who have contributed to this page are Jacob Borg, Sarah Carabott, Claudia Calleja, James Cummings and Daniel Ellul, with editing and main reporting by Diana Cacciottolo. 

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Enemalta cancel 'Power Night' staff party

5.55pm We got a tip off earlier that Enemalta staff were due to have a summer celebration party called 'Power Night' in Marsaxlokk on Friday night. It's since been cancelled. 

"It was felt that such an event could not be held during times of such emergencies, when many employees are working for longer hours, in more challenging conditions," an Enemalta spokesperson said.

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Planned outages

5.40pm If you just read through that list of localities and breathed a sigh of relief, here's another look at the map, this time showing planned outages over the next week or so. They are marked in orange.

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Current outages

5.33pm According to Enemalta's live outage map, these are the areas without power right now,. They include parts of:

• Birkirkara;
• Santa Venera;
• Msida;
• Fgura;
• Marsa;
• Paola;
• Tarxien

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New transformer for Ħal Mula

5.07pm Ħal Mula in Zebbuġ was one of the areas worst-hit by power cuts earlier this week. Enemalta has just updated its Facebook page with a video showing workers installing a new transformer at the substation supplying the Ħal Mula area to replace an older one that was damaged on Monday night. 

The commenters responded with a list of areas that are still without electricity: Birkirkara, Santa Venera, Fgura, Zurrieq, Ħal Safi. They are demanding information about what is happening in their areas. 

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'I threw away €75 because of power cuts'

5.01pm Sharon Briffa, a Mosta resident, was among those who spoke to our roving reporter Daniel Ellul. She said she had to throw away €75 worth of food after a power cut left her home without electricity for 19 hours. 

"The ice in the freezer thawed, and we had to throw away all the pizzas, meat, and everything else," the 53-year-old said. 

Read Daniel's report here.

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Fluctuations in power supply

4.52pm Hello to Ian, who has been reading the blog from his home in Ta' Xbiex.

"I would like to report that since Tuesday we are seeing large fluctuations in the voltage supply," he says. "I have an over-and-under device attached to my meter that cuts off the electricity the moment the voltage rises beyond or below the tolerance levels. We have had 7 such fluctuations since Tuesday!"

 Readers in Zebbuġ are telling us they are experiencing the same thing. 

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Meanwhile in Marsascala

4.22pm One way to beat the heat: take to the water. 

(Also make sure to hydrate and protect yourself against dangerously high UV rays).

 

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Watch: How are power cuts hitting you?

4.01pm Journalist Daniel Ellul has been talking to people living in Mosta and Naxxar - and those here on holiday - about how they've been affected by powercuts.

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Power cables feel the heat

3.52pm Our journalist Jacob Borg was at an afternoon briefing by Enemalta. Here's his report on their latest update.

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'My only concern is for my health'

3.44pm Claude has multiple sclerosis and has emailed to share his experience. 

"My only concern is with regards to my health," he says. "I have a condition which gives me a multitude of problems, all exacerbated with the heat."

He says that living in a flat means the lift is out in a powercut, and he cannot operate the garage which is five storeys down or open the gate.

"I have a battery-operated fan (stop laughing ;) ) but it's nowhere near a solution."

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What we know so far

3.12pm Thank you to the thousands of readers who have been logging on to the live blog today. For those of you just joining us, here's a quick wrap of what we know so far:

• Parts of Malta remain without electricity after three consecutive days of power cuts;
• Enemalta has blamed a sustained heatwave, saying heat penetrated the roads and impacted electricity cables, with nine fresh faults overnight;
• Birkirkara and surrounding areas were worst hit on Thursday but are expected to have electricity restored by 7pm;
• Malta recorded a new peak in electricity demand on Thursday, at 624 MwH but Enemalta insists this remains below capacity;
• PN MP and engineer Mark Anthony Sammut claims Enemalta is 'load-shedding' by deliberately disconnecting areas to save the system;
• The heatwave is expected to continue until at least Thursday next week, with temperatures forecast to increase to a maximum of 41°C but feeling as hot as 43°C for three days in a row;

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Competition time!

2.57pm Artist Steve Bonello has been doing what he does best. We'll just leave this here.

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New record electricity demand

2.53pm Jonathan Cardona reveals that Malta has reached another new record in electricity demand. It reached a peak of 624 MwH today but Cardona reiterated that it remains below the generation capacity of 830 megawatts.

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'Evaluating options' on compensation

2.37pm Energy Minister Miriam Dalli is also at the briefing. Asked about compensation, she said they are analysing any claims made so far and evaluating other possible options when it comes to offering compensation. Dalli did not say what these options are.

Here's the online form to make your claim. 

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Enemalta denies rationing power

2.33pm A few hours ago PN MP Mark Anthony Sammut, who is also an engineer, said Enemalta is deliberately disconnecting localities to prevent the system from collapsing. 

Enemalta's chairman Ryan Fava denies this. He said the load was being switched between substations to cater for demand and outages.

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Call 153

2.20pm Earlier this week we reported how people were left waiting up to an hour for someone to answer Enemalta's 24/7 helpline. People suffering from outages can call 153 (a government services hotline) if they don't manage to contact Enemalta directly.

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Good news for Birkirkara

2.26pm Jonathan Cardona has said he expects Birkirkara to be "back, fully online" by 7pm. 

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Nine more faults 'due to the heat'

2.23pm Enemalta CEO Jonathan Cardona has just told reporters at a briefing that there were nine more faults last night "due to the heat". 

"The heat is penetrating the road and impacting the cables," he explains. "In the past heatwaves lasted for a few days, then abated. In this case, the heatwave has been sustained. This is impacting our systems."

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'I survived a night of oven horror'

2.03pm Among the people contacting us with their power cut experiences is Adam Lubienski from Poland who says he grew up in "a communist country" but is shocked by his experience in St Julian's.

"Power cut was a part of our existence but we knew it would be for maximum two hours. Yesterday in Malta I survived a night of oven horror... No fans, no AC and (the worst) no information about it!" 

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While we're waiting

1.39pm Remember those daily COVID-19 case updates? This meme pays homage with a mock update on the power cut situation: 4 nights without electricity, seven expected days without electricity, 87% of the population angry while 13% are saying 'prosit ministru'.

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Enemalta update

1.34pm Enemalta has invited us to a technical briefing at 2pm. Hopefully, they will have some good news for customers. We'll share the information with you as soon as we can.

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After three days of power cuts, more planned for Għargħur

1.30pm A reader has just sent us this alert, received from Enemalta's SMS service. Power cuts are planned for "maintenance" on Sunday in Għargħur, where residents have already had three days of blackouts and a message to say the issue had been fixed.

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'A week's worth of food, gone'

1.20pm You've been sharing some quite distressing experiences with us of dealing with power cuts amid extremely high temperatures. It's particularly hard on young families and made worse by a cost-of-living crisis that means people don't have money to spare.

Here's Lewi's experience:

"We've been without power here in Birkirkara since last night and we're about at the limit of what we can manage. All our freezer food is gone, a whole week's worth. Two small children who just have to constantly drink water and basically sit in a cold bath for half the day. Devices all running out of battery. Now we've heard from various places it could take days to fix. We'll have to go to a hotel if it keeps up because there's no other option."

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Heading for longest heatwave in a decade

1.05pm Journalist Claudia Calleja has just got an update from the Met Office. Forecasters expect the current heatwave to continue until at least Thursday, July 27. If it continues beyond that, it will be the longest heatwave recorded during the summer months in a decade. 

To put it in perspective, the average temperature for July is 31.7°C.

Read the full story here.

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Where is power out?

12.51pm According to Enemalta's power outage map, there are blackouts in Birkirkara, Msida, Santa Venera, Attard, Mosta, Mtarfa, Rabat Qrendi and Għarghur. 

But that doesn't appear to be the full picture. Readers have been contacting us to tell us of other areas. One reader said that parts of Luqa are also without power. "Power was cut at 8pm yesterday and has not been restored," he wrote.

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Greece is burning

12.35pm Greece said its archaeological sites, including the Acropolis, will be closed during the hottest hours of the day due to a new heatwave.

At least 20 visitors had fainted at the site due to temperatures that can soar to 45C. 

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Online poll

12.29pm We've just uploaded a new online poll about the heatwave, more specifically connected with climate change. We'd like to know what you think. Go to our poll page to share your thoughts. 

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In pictures: Beating the heat

Our photographer Chris Sant Fournier has been out and about in Valletta to see how people are braving the heat. It seems there are three key fashion accessories today: a bottle of water, a fan and an all-weather umbrella. 

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Share your experiences

12.11pm Having to throw out the contents of your melting fridge? Resorting to sleeping outside with the mosquitos? Caring for the elderly or very young children?

Share your experiences of a powercut in a heatwave by emailing newsroom@timesofmalta.com or contact us on Times of Malta's Facebook and Instagram pages.

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Seven days of +40°C heat ahead

11.57am Malta is still under a red weather warning as temperatures are forecast to hit a maximum of at least 40°C every day for the next seven days. 

Watch out for Tuesday, when it's expected to top 41°C, but feel as hot as 43°C.

Trivia time: the hottest day ever recorded in Malta was on August 9, 1999 when temperatures reached a blistering 43.8°C. The hottest July day on record meanwhile, was on July 9, 1988 when temperatures reached 42.7 °C.

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40 Enemalta workers work through the night

11.43am In a statement posted to its Facebook page on Thursday morning, Enemalta said around 40 of its workers had worked “tirelessly” to repair the underground cables it said were responsible for the blackouts.  

The company said it wanted to "reassure its customers that it is doing everything possible to restore the supply in pending areas".

But there was very little sympathy among its exhausted, AC-deprived customers. 

"My elderly parents have been without electricity in Birkirkara since 7pm yesterday. Shame on you!” said Maria Buttigieg, while Carla Degaetano said that she had been without lighting in Sliema for 14 hours.  

"Three nights in a row without sleep is no joke,” wrote Marlene Farrugia, and highlighted the cost of having to throw away food that had gone rotten.  

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PN MP disputes power cut cause

11.36am Nationalist Party MP Mark Anthony Sammut is disputing Enemalta's position that the power outages are due to damaged cables caused by high temperatures. 

"Cables, three feet underground, don't heat up because of the surface high temperatures, but because of high currents due to load", he says.

He claims the company is instead rationing out power, in a process known as 'load shedding'.

"That is to say that even where there are no damages it still cuts certain people from the service so that the system can survive, particularly in Naxxar, Mosta and Zebbuġ."

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Power cut kills fish worth €1,000 

11.24am Tony Abela Medici is furious with Enemalta. A power cut at his Dingli home from 11.30pm last night to 6.30am this morning mean that two of his exotic Koi fish suffocated without air. 

He says this white one would usually sell for €1,000. Sadly, it's not the first time a power cut has spelt the death sentence for his expensive exotic Japanese fish. A similar thing happened in 2021.

 

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Hot dogs

11.10am Endurance athlete Fabio Spiteri has put his body through a lot in his time but when it comes to his beloved dogs, he has a limit. 

He has been 16 hours without electricity, and his animals are suffering in his Birkirkara penthouse.

"My animals are overheated," he wrote on Facebook. "I've given them towels with water so they don't die," he added, tagging in the prime minister and energy minister. 

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How to apply for compensation

11.03am Consumers who have suffered damage to their fixed assets due to the outages can apply for compensation online.

Enemalta says it will investigate all claims and if the company is liable for the damages, compensation will be offered.

You can fill out the form here.

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What we know so far

11.01am Enemalta has blamed the continuous failures on faults caused by the heat. Its CEO, Jonathan Cardona said during a press conference last night that demand reached a record 604 megawatts in the past few days, but this was below generation capacity of 830MW.

The outages, Enemalta officials said, were caused by damage to distribution equipment, notably cables, as a result of the high temperatures.

Some areas suffered multiple faults and repairs had lasted several hours as a result. But in most cases, electricity was restored in an hour or so.

The worst affected were residents of the Mosta-Naxxar area who, in some cases, suffered a 24-hour outage because of damage to a sub-station. Repairs are still underway. 

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Meanwhile in Birkirkara

10.52am We said earlier that Birkirkara is one of the hardest hit by power cuts today. These people were taking it in good spirits, however, as residents came out to darkened streets overnight. Laughing and joking, they ask Prime Minister Robert Abela to give them electricity.  

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Scorching hot political memes

10.46am The power cuts haven't caused a blackout on memes poking fun at the governing Labour party. Energy Minister Miriam Dalli is the focal point while Michelle Muscat's much-derided charity swim from 2019 has resurfaced.

Here's a selection:

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Power cuts show 'lack of planning'

10.38am Opposition leader Bernard Grech in a Facebook post said the power cuts were a reflection of the government’s lack of planning and an example of how Prime Minister Robert Abela had lost direction. 

Empty words, press conferences and nice pictures have not translated into wise, planned policies, he argues. The people were told that Malta would be the best in Europe but a lack of planning meant everything was collapsing under the weight of a population that is growing by thousands every month, he says. 

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Tempers flare in Santa Venera

10.35am A video capturing two drivers caught in a punch-up shortly before the Santa Venera tunnels is being widely shared on social media this morning. This latest road rage incident took place late yesterday afternoon, as tempers flared at the end of a day marked by frustration from the ongoing heat wave and power cuts.

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Heat-struck Mediterranean is climate change 'hot spot'

10.25am You might have read our AFP story this morning. The Mediterranean region is now ranked as a climate-change "hot spot" by scientists. The beaches, seafood and heritage sites in the region spanning parts of southern Europe, northern Africa and western Asia are under threat. And that can't be good news. 

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Baking Birkirkara

10.20am Enemalta's official site shows a number of areas without power this morning. The worst hit appear to be parts of Birkirkara, leading to dozens of complaints... equipment damage and business losses. 

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Thanks for joining us

10am Good morning to all our readers, especially those who have spent a third night without power in a heatwave. Here’s a wrap of what we know so far:

• People living in localities across Malta have been hit by powercuts – particularly Naxxar, Mosta, Żebbuġ, Sliema, San Ġwann, Gżira and Żurrieq.

• Enemalta says electricity demand has reached a record high but blames the blackouts on high temperatures damaging cables.

• Malta is experiencing a heatwave with temperatures hitting highs of 40°C most days amid scorching hot weather across the Mediterranean.

• The Malta Chamber has joined calls for compensation for those affected by power cuts, saying small businesses are bearing the brunt of the “extremely worrying” situation.