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An agreement has been reached to ensure the electricity supply in Sark stays on, with Chief Pleas now formally looking at buying the island's utility firm to prevent any future power crisis.
The Seigneur of Sark had said an agreement was reached during talks which ended in the early hours of this morning, with the man who threatened switching the power off now publicly backing the deal too.
Pictured: Mr Gordon-Brown at Sark's power station.
David Gordon-Brown, who owns Sark Electricity Ltd, had warned the power would go off at midnight tonight after a long running dispute over the price of electricity in the island.
He has previously said price controls forced on his utility firm by a commissioner appointed by Chief Pleas are unacceptable and too low, forcing him into bankruptcy. To prevent that he said he would simply shut down the power station.
Instead, he has now agreed to keep the power on, with Chief Pleas agreeing he can go back to selling the power at the price he used to, before the price control was brought in.
That is only a temporary situation though, while due diligence is done to enable Chief Pleas to buy Sark Electricity Ltd.
Pictured: SEL and Chief Pleas have struck a deal to keep the power on.
With the deadline for switching the power off fast approaching, negotiations had been continuing right up until today, with talks ending at 01:00 this morning leading to a happier conclusion than many had foreseen.
The Seigneur was earlier quoted as saying that a deal was reached so Chief Pleas would buy Sark Electricity Ltd once due diligence had been done and that the power would stay on while that process is carried out.
Mr Gordon-Brown initially said he was asleep at 01:00 and he had no comment to make, but he has since released a statement via his website.
Pictured: Inside Sark's power station.
"We are pleased to announce that an agreement was reached late last evening following which there will be no disconnection of the electricity supply this evening Friday 30 November.
"We have agreed that the company will now continue to sell electricity at 66p per unit, which allows the company to sell electricity without losing money and to keep providing power to its customers, the people of Sark.
"So there will be no disconnection of the electricity supply this evening Friday 30 November
"To avoid any similar difficulties in the future, the committee and the company have approved a three month process to allow them to agree the Fair Market Value of the company to enable Chief Pleas to purchase the company. This process will be completed by the end of February.
"We have also agreed that the company will not ask its customers to pay the difference between 66p and the 52p it has been charging for the last three months.
"Joanne enthusiastically supports any agreement that does not require her to go through three months’worth of bills to calculate how much we each owe."
Pictured: You can read the latest statement from SEL here.
Mr Gordon-Brown said the deal means that the commissioner's order (to cut electricity prices) has been "quashed and we are back to the original price, and we are going to hold it at that price for the next three months while we do a deal to let them value the company. After that, it belongs to them."
He said SEL is not going to back-date customer's bills to compensate the company for the losses its incurred as "it would be a pain for the customer and at this time of year would just mean extra bills."
While the deal is in place from now on, Mr Gordon-Brown said there is quite a bit still to do before Chief Pleas actually buys SEL.
"The intention is for Chief Pleas to take over ownership, I don't know exactly what they are going to do that's up to them - I have recommendations for them but they will make their own decisions.
"I will keep working for three months and they want me to stay on to make sure the handover works so I'll do that too.
"I believe people in Sark will be happy with this, there was some resistance to the idea that Chief Pleas should own the company but I think we should at least see how they are going to do it before we make our minds up."
Mr Gordon-Brown said he has been involved with SEL since 1969, and has worked for the company full time since he returned to Sark 12 years ago. He is now happy with the situation going forward.
"I'm very glad we have got it sorted it anyway. I'm glad Chief Pleas are happy. I came back here to run the company not to shut it down."
Pictured top: David Gordon-Brown, owner of Sark Electricity Ltd.
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