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Monumental electricity prices in Sark can and should be dramatically reduced, according to the island's Electricity Price Control Commissioner.
Dr Anthony White has published his full determination on the current costs Sark Electricity Limited is charging its customers - 85p per unit.
He has said, after a full investigation and analysis, that it is clear the business could afford to charge 53p per unit and still earn a "reasonable profit".
Despite constant dispute from SEL, Dr White said in his determination that the current cost was simply "not fair and reasonable".
Pictured: The determination was only made after thorough examination of Sark Electricity as a business.
Towards the end of the Summer, SEL Director, David Gordon-Brown, announced to customers that the business would be putting its prices up dramatically to cover legal bills incurred over the last year as arguments continued between the electricity provider and Sark's government. Those prices would now be so high, they are suspected to be the highest in the developed world. The UK's price per unit, for example, is 16p.
"The Commissioner’s decision is laid out in full in a document, published today, called the Electricity Prices - Determination*. The Commissioner will now decide whether to move to the next stage of imposing a legally enforceable Price Control Order," Dr White said in his statement.
Pictured: The determination assesses arguments made by SEL's lawyers, Collas Crill, and the Commissioner says he does not agree with them: "I confirm that the current price of electricity is not fair and reasonable."
"The Determination refutes allegations by SEL of bias and unfairness in the exercise of the Commissioner’s powers. It also dismisses claims that he tried to bankrupt the company last year in collusion with Chief Pleas, Sark’s Government. The Commissioner restates his finding that the major reason for the high price of Sark’s electricity (66p per unit during most of 2018 and 2019 and presently 85p per unit) is because SEL passes on unreasonable costs to its customers.
"Submissions he has received say these high prices affect Sark’s poorest customers particularly. Ultimately, he says, high prices threaten not only SEL’s business prospects but the economy of the entire island."
The crisis in itself, which this time last year saw Sark on the cusp of having no power at all, was all started when SEL once again decided to hike its prices. Chief Pleas hired Dr White to investigate the fairness of the situation, but Mr Gordon-Brown refused to follow his suggestions and instead said he would stop running the power station at all.
Pictured: David Gordon-Brown does not reside in Sark full time, instead he lives in Canada and only returns to the island occasionally.
The island then went in to panic, trying to prevent the generators being switched off. Luckily, an agreement was made at the final hour.
But while that agreement was promising, it has not practically solved anything, and now a very similar situation to 12 months ago is looming. Mr Gordon-Brown, independent experts and the government are all going to meet at the end of this month to try and head off a similar crisis, but whether SEL's Director will threaten to turn off his power again now this determination has been issued is yet to be seen.
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