About 10,000 businesses are being asked to tally how much the power cuts have cost them over the past two weeks, in a bid to push the government to issue compensation in the coming months.

The Malta Chamber of SMEs is asking all sorts of businesses – from small shops to factories and hotels – to quantify how much they lost as a result of the series of prolonged outages that hit the islands.

It is too early to predict the total cost of losses but the collective bill will probably run into millions.

The losses could take the form of food they were forced to throw away, appliances and machinery that failed or developed faults, lost sales from having to close shop and send employees home, and refunds to clients for failure to provide a product or service.

A number of businesses forwarded to Times of Malta the e-mail they had received from the chamber.

The chamber sent it last Thursday, asking business owners to draw up a list of damages, explain what they were, how they happened, and to indicate the date and time of their occurrence.

The businesses were also asked to calculate the cost and send the details to the SME chamber.

Contacted for comment, Chamber of SMEs CEO Abigail Agius Mamo confirmed the chamber is in discussions with the government and the energy ministry to find ways to recover at least some of costs incurred.

But she said it was still too early to say what kind of compensation the government would be able to offer and in what amounts.

“The aim of this exercise is precisely that – to get a clearer picture of the losses incurred. This would inform us and the government on the way forward on compensation,” she said.

“We have received many complaints by businesses and saw many others posted on social media, but we are not yet in a position to understand the actual extent of the impact of the power cuts. This exercise will concretely give us that information before we can proceed with compensation schemes.”

Times of Malta understands the e-mail was sent to around 10,000 businesses.

Industry sources said that although it was too early to predict the total losses, the collective bill would probably run into several millions.

Small and medium enterprises across the islands complained of a distressing loss of business as Malta grappled with persistent power cuts amid a raging heatwave over the past two weeks.

Meanwhile, thousands of people, including many elderly, were left without electricity for multiple nights and days, with many saying they had to throw food away and others complaining of damage to domestic appliances and  medical home equipment.

Mater Dei and Mount Carmel hospitals also suffered power cuts while hospitalisations and deaths related to the excessive heat also increased.

 The Nationalist Party has estimated the power cuts cost the country €200 million but some economic experts say it is too early to assess the real extent of the damage caused.