‘Gate fee hike would be passed on to customer’
A SIGNIFICANT increase in commercial waste prices would ‘inevitably’ have to be passed on to customers, construction businesses have warned, after the possibility of a gate fee hike was raised.
The prospect of higher commercial charges has been raised in the Waste Strategy Implementation policy letter, published jointly by Environment & Infrastructure and the States’ Trading Supervisory Board.
‘The gate fee for commercial waste at the transfer station will potentially be significantly higher than the current disposal charge at Mont Cuet, which is expected to drive tonnages towards the private sector,’ the report said.
Trading Assets deputy managing director Richard Evans has since explained this will depend on whether the strategy is funded through the Capital Reserve.
C.A. Duquemin Ltd managing director David Duquemin said it would not be possible to absorb such a hike in gate fees.
‘We haven’t been notified of anything.
‘Waste charges are already astronomical, in my opinion, so that is not good news at all,’ he said.
‘Inevitably it will have to be passed on to clients.’
Mister Shifter owner Steve De Carteret, who disposes of one-ton bags, was worried about how the situation had been managed.
‘We used to have regular waste authority meetings with them every few months but that hasn’t been going on for three or four years now.
‘Maybe we were asking too many awkward questions about what is going to happen,’ he said.
‘Waste isn’t going to stop being produced.
‘Fly-tipping has increased over the years as waste charges have gone up and it will increase again.’
Alan Queripel, owner of Skipco Ltd, said their operating margin on waste disposal was already slim.
He also feared fly-tipping would increase.
‘When the prices go up it will just get worse. We need to know [of any price changes] in advance, it’s no good telling us the week before it happens,’ he said.
Mr Evans said Trading Assets will write to commercial waste customers to outline the new charges once a decision is made. This will depend on the outcome of next month’s States meeting.
Vale deputy Laurie Queripel, who has a background in construction, said the short section on commercial waste fees had raised alarm bells.
‘It’s only one paragraph really but it says a lot and raises a number of queries and points.
‘It demonstrates that the user-pays model will not be adhered to as strictly as it might or should be because there is a fixed cost to the strategy which must be recovered,’ he said.
He said islanders could be subject to a ‘double hit of sorts’.
‘This is because if businesses cannot absorb the increase – hopefully some will be able to – they will have to pass it, or part of it, onto their customers,’ he said.
‘Every time the States introduce a new charge or increases an existing one the effect is inflationary, it’s all connected.
‘I appreciate there are times when this has to be the case but it should only be when necessary and the impact needs to be understood, ability to pay has to be more of a factor.
‘The price of doing business in Guernsey is already high, this is understandable to some degree, due to economies of scale etc., but local traders can only exert so much control, they cannot do much about freight charges, outlay on premises, if they are employers they have to pay wages, and in regard to materials and packaging they are largely at the mercy of manufacturers.’
