The power outages we suffered in July clearly show that whatever we are currently doing to handle the increased demand and the problems brought about by the extreme temperatures is either not enough or failing miserably.

The argument over whether the power cuts were caused by extreme temperatures or overload was infantile and it was silly to turn this into a political argument.

The truth is that the carrying capacity of cables is reduced in extreme temperatures. Furthermore, some areas are still supplied by cables from colonial times. Since those times, governments have changed many times over, so we all share the responsibility for not being sufficiently prepared.

Besides long-term planning, we must continue patching up the current network at any cost. Citizens and businesses should not have to suffer power cuts. The cost of this patching up is considerable and will eat away at the government’s proposed budget but has to be supported regardless.

Planning for network upgrades must include considering new technology and best practices employed in other countries. The effects of extraordinary temperatures on already overloaded networks are being felt elsewhere outside our islands. Research shows that different approaches are being studied such as the type of substrates used in burying cables and housing cables inside pipes and employing air cooling.

We cannot claim that we are experts in this field but, on the other hand, our collective experience in handling business problems has taught us to seek professional advice when planning new investments. We do not simply rely on our internal team but get outside advice to re-engineer our business processes.

We must do the best that can be done while keeping our egos and political affiliations in check. Doing more of the same has clearly got us into the current situation. Banking solely on internal technical advice will most likely have us back here next summer.

Resistance to change is human nature and innate in all sectors. It happens in many other sectors such as in the adoption of cloud computing and artificial intelligence. We are witnessing the effects of climate change and we are only at the beginning. Things will get worse, much worse. Unless we employ experts that think outside the box and consider making significant changes, chances are it will all happen again.

The most obvious strategy for network upgrades is employing solutions such as higher capacity cables and alternative distribution paths for redundancy, new substations and the like.

Some of this was already done to some extent although, evidently, this was far from enough.

Climate change is here to stay and even if we had to reach carbon neutrality tomorrow, the current bizarre temperatures, freak storms and flooding will persist.

Another mitigation strategy which we feel very strongly about is to bring the power source close to where the power is needed using renewables such as photovoltaics with battery banks. Malta is a textbook case for this type of alternative energy. Our government is inexplicably limiting the number of megawatts that it is willing to pay for as feed-in tariff, incredible as this may sound.

When we were buying interconnector power at much less than the feed-in tariff, this was understandable but, today, the rates are many times over.

We should be encouraging renewables even if this means investing. Applications should be fast-tracked, processed immediately and encouraged. Furthermore, many government assets such as street lightning, State-owned buildings and electric vehicle charging points could be powered in the same way, effectively getting them off the grid.

The argument over whether the power cuts were caused by extreme temperatures or overload was infantile- Marcel Mizzi

Businesses have already been privately funding similar systems for their premises for some years and many have reduced their power bills to practically nil.

Another issue that was verging on the comical was the power outage Enemalta map app.

People were calling the helpline continuously with no response and, to add insult to injury, their town, in darkness, was not showing up on the map. People were frustrated and not sure if Enemalta was aware of their situation. Creating a proper app to handle this is low-hanging fruit.

Transparency is also a very important consideration. Regardless of how much or how little is being done, the public should be aware of what is going on.

In the likely event that this time next year we will be back in the same situation, this should help sugar-coat the pill we have to swallow.

Being aware will give people hope and something to look forward to and will make them feel part of the change. We should start by taking stock of the situation and identifying areas that need most attention and publishing the results and action plans with clear deadlines.

Citizens and businesses in Malta have no choice where to buy their electricity from. We have ARMS/Enemalta and no other options. Without going into the pros and cons of having a choice of providers, the one we have should at least publish a service mandate. We do have an unwritten one which simply states that if we do not pay our bills, our supply will be disconnected.

Another issue is compensation for damages caused. We should not be discussing compensation every time disaster strikes. Compensation should be part of the service mandate and declared up front. It is likely we will have heavy storms in winter. Let’s hope we don’t have to start discussing compensation all over again.

In conclusion, we always strive to be proactive and suggest solutions rather than simply complain. Even if upgrades are done efficiently, we very much doubt that enough can be done in one year to save us from having to go through all this again next summer.

Marcel Mizzi

On the other hand, we will all sleep better at night knowing that we are on the way to resolve this using the best solutions available, with the least possible cost and as quickly as possible.

Marcel Mizzi is vice president of the Malta Chamber of SMEs.