£330,000 spent so far on Sark's electric crisis

Thursday 11 April 2019

2018's Sark Electricity Crisis has cost the island £330,000 so far, it has been revealed by Chief Pleas' accounts for the year.

They show nearly all of the money being spent on legal fees for the Price Control Commissioner - with court battles taking place between the company and the government - and a total of £2,036 being spent on emergency planning for if the lights all went out.

The blackout was almost upon Sark when a last-minute deal was signed, but generators had already been brought in, and a huge range of plans made to try and avoid the island's people suddenly having no power, and in turn water.

That deal stated that Sark Electricity would work with Chief Pleas to come to a deal in a three month time period. But that time has now passed, and seemingly, no progress has been made.

Chief Pleas employed an Electricity Price Control Commissioner to investigate and regulate SEL's monopoly. 

At the start of this month, the islands' Electricity Price Control Commissioner issued a letter to islanders saying the process needed more time.

"The recent three month legally agreed negotiating period between SEL and Chief Pleas is now over, though the discussions may not have concluded," Anthony White said.

"As Electricity Commissioner I have the duty to carry out a full technical and economic evaluation of the present power system, and from that, judge whether power prices are fair and reasonable, and, if not, set a fair and reasonable price for all. I am pleased to say that I now have all of the information that I require."

Mr White said SEL and Chief Pleas' differences had now been aired between the two sides, and while they still fundamentally disagreed on what a fair price point would be, they had decided going back to court would not be a good use of any more public money.

In total, the accounts show the proceedings so far have cost £171,184 in court fees, and £115,000 in a settlement paid to SEL. A further £42,000 was paid to legal invoices incurred after 2018.

SEL's David Gordon-Brown.

As a company, Sark Electricity has the monopoly on providing power to the people. It has a customer base of over 300. Its average prices are significantly higher than the averages on Guernsey or in the UK, which was a fact that triggered the tension in the first place. 

But David Gordon-Brown, the man behind the company, says these costs are from importing the fuels and paying for shipping. In the past, he told Express he would start to incur huge losses if he followed the pricing structure that the Commissioner tried to enforce. The argument over that structure was what triggered the crisis, with Mr Gordon-Brown threatening to turn off the power to save his company's money. 

Pictured top: SEL's HQ in Sark.