The water and electricity sage

I don’t know how many of you have had the misfortune of needing a new electricity and water service in your property, and I hope that you did not pass through the ordeal that members of my family had to go through. I am writing this today in order to highlight the situation in the hope that we start to be treated with respect by Enemalta and the Water Services Corporations.
Let me start with the electricity saga first: you apply for a new service, they promise that within three weeks you will get the service but you soon discover that the matter will take much longer. They give you an appointment and tell you when they will be coming to erect the electricity pole, and then leave you waiting in vain without offering any information. Then, when you make enquiries, they tell you that the contractor is sick. You press them for the name of the contractor, but they refuse to divulge the name.
You make your own enquiries and luckily you discover that one of your neighbours has a daughter married to someone who does this job, and he makes enquiries for you and tells you that the Enemalta substation has not given them any instructions to erect the pole. Thanks to our good neighbourliness, we get the electricity pole done.
We phone the Birkirkara substation because they tell us that Attard falls under B’kara; but the manager is never available and they refuse to give us his name. We make enquiries and we discover that he is Mr Bonanno but still he refuses to talk to us and is always unavailable. I go to Valletta Enemalta substation because these are ever so helpful and efficient and they are so kind as to call Mr Bonanno from there but it is past seven o’ clock in the morning and he is not at the office. But they tell them from B’kara that they know about the application as the manager above the manager spoke to them about it.
But still nothing happens and we feel so helpless: we speak to dozens of “godfathers”, but nothing. Thank God I visit the website of the Ministry and email its PRO, Roderick Agius, who turns out to be very helpful indeed. Today as I am writing this opinion for tomorrow’s edition of this newspaper, I am informed that the Enemalta people will be installing the electricity supply today. We hope that this time they keep their word.
There will remain the saga of the water supply: to be frank we have been informed by the Water Services Corporation that they take eight weeks to deliver and since the application was made on 29 August, we are hoping that they keep their promise. 
My point in highlighting this is not to narrate a story but to raise the plight of other people who have to go through the same ordeal to receive a service for which they are paying and to corporations that badly need our money. It is easy to blame the Minister but that is not the case: the Minister has no blame in the matter but it is the people he appoints that are to blame.
They are paid to give a good service to the people and if they have a bit of respect for the Minister who appointed them they ought to make sure that the public is being served.
I have no doubt that the ordeal that what my family is going through is not a one-off but it is customary for irresponsible officials at both corporations to procrastinate and we have been told that this procrastination has a name and the name is overtime. But why should we pay for overtime for a service that can be done during normal office hours?
It is a pity how in this day and age we are still back in the old days when for the supply of a colour television set we had to recur to “godfathers”. Now, more than 30 years later, we have to go through the same procedure again in getting the water and electricity service. I am sure that this is no fault of the Minister but it is definitely the fault of those who are in control and in charge of Enemalta and the Water Services Corporation.
The consumer pays for the service and I do not see why the consumer has to wait so long to have water and electricity supply.  After all he is paying for the service, both corporations need money because they are both in dire straits and it stands to logic that they must leap over backwards in order to attract more work. 
But as we always say, our workers still think that their salary falls like manna from heaven, and that it will be guaranteed irrespective of how much they deliver. I am afraid to say that in both corporations, truancy is rampant and there are little or no measures which ensure that the workers give a good return for themoney they are paid in salaries. 
On the other hand, if Enemalta sub station in B’kara needs more staff, it is the responsibility of the Chairman to ensure that these substations are properly manned and the area manager Mr Bonanno, instead of shunning clients and refusing to confront them directly, changes his attitude and be honest with them. He should tell clients that he is under-staffed to meet the demands that they have in their area: assuming always that this is the case, and giving the benefit of the doubt to this mysterious Mr Bonanno, as to this day and age we still do not what he looks or sounds like.
So hopefully, today we will have the electricity installed and our next ordeal will be with the Water Services Corporation. The eight weeks have not passed although I still cannot understand why they have to make us wait eight weeks to
install the water in our property; but we give them the benefit of the doubt and patiently wait for the eight weeks before starting to pester those responsible. 
Mind you, we have already tried and sought help from people from inside; but they too feel helpless in the matter so much so that these people have given up and gave us the name and number of the person directly responsible.
I can assure that turning to the Ministry’s public relations officer was our last resort. I know that these are matters for the corporation’s public relations officers or customer care officers to delve into; but that will explain you the sense of frustration that the man in the street feels when he has the money to pay for the service (this is not a question of expecting something for free) and yet finds himself helpless in the situation.
May I thank the tens of people we have contacted to help us in this unexpected ordeal, especially the Ministry’s PRO, Mr Roderick Agius.

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