Parliament tightens legislation for contractors drilling through electricity cables

The Electricity Authority will be empowered to issue financial penalties of up to £100,000, over and above any civil liability for negligence to any contractor who cuts through an electricity cable.

A Bill legislating for this was fast-tracked through Parliament today and passed unanimously.

The Minister for Utilities, Gemma Arias-Vasquez welcomed the cross party support for the bill.

The Bill for an Act to create the offence of damaging electrical infrastructure and to provide for the imposition of a financial penalty when it's been damaged was brought to Parliament today marked as Urgent.  

The Minister for Utilities, Gemma Arias Vasquez said the legislation's main purpose was to act as a deterrent.

The recent power cuts, she said, had been entirely avoidable and caused by carelessness and the result of individuals failing to exercise duty of care.

She said the Government had spent 100's of millions of pounds on infrastructure and highlighted the scale of the consequences when someone digs through cables without taking care.  

Ms Arias- Vasquez said the current legislation was not a strong enough deterrent and a system that is watertight, transparent and enforced was what's needed. 

The new legislation does not require there to be malicious intent and extends liability to the employer.

The Opposition offered 'guarded support' with the GSD's Craig Sacarello saying it felt like "shutting the stable door after the horse had bolted."  The Bill, he said, adopted a philosophy of hindsight not foresight. 

He highlighted the frequency of the power cuts saying legislation alone will not prevent the next blackout.  He argued the role of the OFT in issuing the licences for excavation works had to also carry a responsibility to ensure competence.

In answer to Mr Sacarello's suggestion that a representative from the GEA should provide supervision, the Minister said there were too many licences issued for this to be logistically possible.  Instead she said pre-clearance competency would be strengthened.

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An Act to amend the Civil jurisdiction and Judgments Act was also passed unanimously.  It will align Gibraltar's position on International agreements on private International law with the UK and away from Brussels following Brexit.

The Opposition questioned the timing of its presentation because although the Bill had been on the agenda for a while, the ordinary course of business was not followed and the Government did not wait for the ongoing motion debate to have ended.