PN tables no confidence vote in Miriam Dalli as minister dodges questions

The Nationalist Party has tabled a motion of censure and no confidence in Energy Minister Miriam Dalli over the power cuts that have affected thousands of households and businesses in recent days, as the minister avoided questions on her political responsibility. 

Opposition leader Alex Borg and energy and environment spokesperson Mark Anthony Sammut filed the motion in parliament, calling on Prime Minister Robert Abela to immediately seek Dalli’s resignation or remove her from office.

The opposition said the government had failed to provide an essential service after repeated outages left families and businesses without electricity for several hours at the height of summer.

It argued that Dalli should shoulder political responsibility for failures within her portfolio that had directly affected people’s lives and health.

The PN said the latest outages were a repeat of the crisis experienced in the summer of 2023, when the opposition had also presented a motion concerning the government’s handling of the electricity network.

Despite government promises and the announcement of substantial investment in the distribution system, the opposition said, the problem had persisted and again caused serious disruption to families, businesses, patients and vulnerable people.

The motion also cited a National Audit Office report on the planning of and investment in the electricity distribution network.

According to the PN, the report identified serious shortcomings in Enemalta’s planning and concluded that insufficient investment in the distribution network had been the principal cause of the earlier crisis.

The opposition accused the government of failing to plan for increasing electricity demand as Malta’s population and economy grew.

It said the country had been left with infrastructure that could not keep pace with the growth brought about by the government’s own policies.

The PN said it was unacceptable that Dalli had refused to accept political responsibility despite the scale of the disruption.

“The Maltese and Gozitan people deserve modern infrastructure, reliable services and a government that takes responsibility for its decisions,” it said.

'I am in politics to do good' - minister

Speaking to Times of Malta outside parliament on Wednesday, Dalli avoided saying whether she would resign as minister.

"I did not enter politics because I am tied to the seat of power or that of a ministry. I am in politics because I want to do good," she said.

"Right now my focus is offering support to Enemalta because we want to serve people as quickly as possible."

Pressed further, Dalli repeated that her current focus was to help Enemalta deal with the cuts.

As in 2023, the government energy company has attributed the systemic power cuts to faults in the distribution system.

Dalli defended her record, saying Enemalta "invested a lot" in strengthening the distribution system, adding that works have taken place and that results have been positive.

The minister said that works to strengthen the distribution system are still not ready as the whole project would "take years" to complete. However, she acknowledged that works needed to speed up.

PN's motion 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 throwing away food that had spoiled in refrigerators and freezers.

Businesses also reported 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 outages also caused disruption beyond homes and businesses. A UEFA Conference League match at the Centenary Stadium was interrupted by a power failure, while an electricity cut at the law courts temporarily halted the trial of businessman Yorgen Fenech.

The government subsequently announced that households and businesses affected by interruptions lasting six hours or more would be entitled to compensation under a mechanism used in previous years.

Dalli said the government’s priority was to restore electricity supplies as quickly as possible while easing the difficulties experienced by affected customers.

The Malta Chamber of SMEs called for a permanent and structured compensation mechanism that would automatically come into effect when outages exceeded established thresholds.

It said prolonged interruptions could lead to lost sales, spoiled stock, cancelled appointments, disrupted production and additional operating costs.

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

'Apology is for not completing works on time' - Prime Minister

Asked for his reaction to the PN's motion, Prime Minister Robert Abela said he had full faith in both Dalli and Enemalta employees.  

"As I have already said, there is still much work to do. We have substantially strengthened the electricity distribution system from 2023 onwards. There are massive works still to be carried out," he said, adding that several governments on both sides had failed to invest enough in the grid over the past decades. 

Asked what exactly he issued an "unconditional apology" for on Tuesday, Abela replied that he apologised for the government not completing the necessary works in time.  

"We have cables that haven't been changed for decades," he said, while repeating the apology.