Sark Electricity will sell – but Chief Pleas 'is not best owner'

And Alan Witney-Price yesterday ruled out using the island’s electricity price commissioner for that.

‘They will have to bring somebody to the table who is a reasonable negotiator. That is not Policy and Finance or [commissioner] Tony White,’ he said.

His comments come after Chief Pleas voted to acquire the utility, with a back-up plan of having compulsory purchase legislation drawn up should negotiations fail.

He said he accepted the government’s decision.

‘Democracy has spoken. My greatest fear is always that there’s a stable supply of electricity on Sark because I love the place. That’s why I bought the station in the first place. My concern is that the business runs, and runs for the long term.’

But while he was prepared to enter talks, he was not sure that Chief Pleas would be the ideal purchaser for the company. ‘Chief Pleas doesn’t necessarily have the best track record of running a business, Sark Shipping being the best example.’

SEL was valued at between £1.2m. and £1.3m. in 2020 ahead of prices being imposed for electricity. Sark’s Policy and Finance Committee chairman Conseiller John Guille said that a fresh valuation would be needed ahead of any sale.

Mr Witney-Price said that he estimated there was currently £1.75m. in company assets alone.

Matters reached a head earlier this week after he warned that the company was on the brink of having to cease trading, and he maintains that the price of electricity is not high enough.

‘My concern over Chief Pleas and the commissioner is that the price set does not cover the operational costs,’ he said.

He had been keeping the company afloat out of his own pocket for some time.

‘I’ve been funding SEL to the tune of thousands of pounds for months. I’ve been making it clear [to Chief Pleas] that this is untenable since June last year but they’ve done nothing about it.’