Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/553115
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 9 AUGUST 2015 24 P ersonally (though I say so myself) I find the above a much more satisfying proverb than the boring old one about "absolute power corrupting absolutely." For one thing, it is undeniably and self-evidently true… though I can't say the same for the original (I've never wielded 'absolute power' myself, so what would I know about its corrupting influence?) Well, we all got the perfect opportunity to confirm the truth of my own version last Thursday: when around 90% of the island ended up (for the umpteenth time) quite literally powerless. And let's be honest: given the choice between 'corrupt power' and 'no power at all'… how many of us would actually choose the latter? But first, let us savour the implications of this latest return to the Dark Ages. Another near- nationwide power cut, of the kind we had all moaned about so much on the infamous Good Friday of 2010 (and countless other times before, going all the way back to the 1980s). Only this time round, there was the added bonus of a power cut occurring slap bang in the middle of an early August heatwave… you know, when temperatures are known to hit the potentially life-threatening 40s. There is, of course, another difference. Where previous (recent) outages had generally occurred under past Nationalist administrations – much maligned precisely for failing to ever solve this problem in 25 years – the latest examples have all taken place under a Labour government, elected specifically on the promise of an 'energy revolution'. Oh, and please note I said 'examples' – in the plural – because last Thursday's power cut was by no means the only one experienced of late in my neck of the woods. I live in the Ta' Xbiex area, and by my count there have been at least six blackouts (one lasting more than five hours) in the past four weeks alone. For this reason it took me a while to figure out that the latest example actually extended beyond the confines of the Sliema/St Julian's/Gzira/Msida nexus. Initially I assumed that – like all the other times – it had been caused by endemic problems in the local distribution network. We now know, however, that in this instance the problem was caused by the celebrated 'interconnector', and therefore had much wider ramifications… including political, but I'll come to these later. For the moment, the bottom line is this: for whatever reason, and regardless of who happens to be in power… 'consistent energy provision' is something Malta just can't rely on in the early 21st century. And this means that what's at stake here is nothing less than the credibility of the entire nation. Our collective failure to solve this problem illustrates that – no matter how much we may excel in other spheres – we cannot seem to ever get the most basic, fundamental necessities right. So perhaps it might be a good idea to take a closer look at this seemingly insoluble problem of ours: if not to actually solve it, at least to figure out why it is so evidently beyond our capabilities. As indicated earlier, inconsistent energy supply has been the hallmark of practically every administration of government we've ever had (at least, in my lifetime). Frequent power cuts were the order of the day back in the 1980s… and while the construction of the new Delimara plant in the early 1990s made a difference for a while, the same problem resurfaced to characterise the final years of the Gonzi administration, too. This is partly why the energy question came to dominate the 2013 election campaign. Having proven such a serious credibility blow to the Nationalists, the Labour Party was keen to present itself as the only party with the know-how to actually make a difference in this troublesome sector. And yet, two and a half years into the present Muscat administration, the same problem evidently persists. Last Thursday it was because of the interconnector… all the other times, it was because of (to quote from a recent Enemalta statement) "a number of cable faults which affected the network f lexibility to provide the required services..." Immediately, a small problem swims into view. The second of these explanations was also the one given for most (but not all – some had been attributed to Marsa's ailing Boiler 8, since decommissioned) of the minor outages that used to regularly occur before the last election, and have continued ever since. Back in the days when Minister Tonio Fenech described Labour's energy plan as something out of 'Alice in Wonderland', Enemalta used to regularly insist that the problem did not concern electricity generation at all – bearing in mind that Marsa was still functioning back then – but rather, distribution. That there were serious problems with Marsa was also a fact: but the urgent situation facing the country in 2013 consisted of: a) a faulty distribution network, and; b) the imminent decommissioning of the old power station, in the full knowledge that the Delimara plant, on its own, could not fully take over the load. So what happened? We were all treated to a fully-f ledged pre-electoral energy debate which failed spectacularly to ever address the existing problems within the distribution network: concentrating only on energy production, which wasn't even considered an issue at the time. Labour unveiled its plans for a new power station, complete with f loating gas storage tanks in Marsaxlokk… and the only allusion to the other, more pressing problem was a vague promise, included in the manifesto, to "strengthen and improve the electricity distribution system" specifically to reduce power cuts. Yet it is only now – three years later – that we are suddenly told of a plan to build two new distribution centres "to improve the quality of service to customers in nearby localities, including St Julian's, Sliema, Gzira and Ta' Xbiex"… which will be commissioned in 2016. The same Enemalta statement also informs us that construction of these two distribution centres had actually commenced in 2014, but was not completed "due to a number of difficulties". This means that – not unlike certain other aspects of the Opinion Power corrupts. But absolute lack Raphael Vassallo Tell you what: instead of talking endlessly about 'building new power stations'… how about we decommission our failed political system instead… and create a new one in its place that doesn't rely too heavily on a pair of utterly clueless political parties?