Guernsey Press

Competition in electricity despite calls for delay

LETTERS of objection and a request for an extended deadline to the International Energy Group's application for an operating licence were turned down by the Channel Islands' competition law regulator.

Published

Cicra director Louise Read said they had given 'interested parties' a seven-day timeframe in which to respond to its proposed decision to approve the new operator.

During this time, Guernsey Electricity, the States' Trading and Supervisory Board and the Environment & Infrastructure committee all sought wider

consultation.

In Guernsey Electricity's letter, which is now published on Cicra's website, chief financial officer Julian Turner said the IEG's application 'raises many fundamental questions as to the nature of the island's electricity system, the regulatory environment and the delivery of the environmental aspirations of the island.'

E&I committee member Deputy Shane Langlois said 'market liberalisation at this stage might appear premature' and called for a longer deadline.

However, Ms Read said it was decided to uphold the decision and grant the licence.

'The market for the generation of electricity in Guernsey has been open to competition for a number of years,' she said.

'During this time other companies could have applied for a licence and would have been subject to the same process and received similar consideration to the International Energy Group Ltd (IEG) – however until now, no-one has applied to enter the market.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.