The owner of a Hal Far wedding hall has been acquitted of electricity theft amounting to thousands of euro.
Pierre Peter Abela, 55, from Attard was charged with stealing €7,456 from the Villa Marija wedding hall between 2000 and 2005.
The court heard, in a case going back to 2009, how Enemalta officials had carried out a surprise inspection in 2005 and found that the three-phase meter had been “tampered with” and energy consumption was under registering by around 33%.
By taking an average from the previous five years the corporation concluded that the amount of energy stolen was €6,808. For some reason, however, the charge stated that the amount stolen was €7,450.
On his part, Mr Abela denied tampering with the meter and listed several instances where he had contacted Enemalta because of energy supply faults and damages he had incurred as a result. He said that in 2000 he contacted Enemalta over fluctuations and surges to the power supply. The correspondence spanned over a number of years because the problems resurfaced every few months, despite Enemalta telling him that there was nothing wrong with the meter. In one occasion he had written to the corporation that he would hold it responsible for a damaged air conditioning system. He had also told the utilities company that the fluctuations could have damaged the meter.
When an inspection was carried out in 2003, Enemalta technicians found that one of four seals on the meter was broken and a part called the shunt had been moved. Mr Abela was told that the meter was under registering and paid Enemalta LM1,000 (€2,330) and thought the story had ended there. He was later charged with electricity theft.
The court, presided by Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, heard how the shunt could not have been tampered with unless all four seals were broken. It also heard how, after the three-phase meter was replaced, the average daily consumption was actually lower than when the meter was allegedly tampered. This disproved the allegation that the meter had been under registering. The Magistrate also took into consideration that the remaining three seals were only broken by the Enemalta officials when they carried out the inspection. Mr Agius was therefore acquitted.
Inspector Carlos Cordina prosecuted.