Alderney residents set to get electricity cost relief

Unlike Guernsey, which gets most of its electricity from nuclear via the cable link with France, Alderney’s power station runs off diesel and most people heat their homes using kerosene.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed up oil prices to record highs.

Alderney Electricity managing director James Lancaster was fairly optimistic that in the short term, over the next six months, the worst effects on the community could be mitigated.

‘Alderney is pretty much 100% reliant on fossil fuels and therefore we are impacted by the changes in world energy prices, and obviously they are rising quite fast at the moment,’ he said.

‘In the short term Alderney is perhaps not as bad off as some places because we’re not reliant on regular shipments.

‘We had a shipment of fuel in the middle of February, which was prior to the immediate price rises.’

The States of Alderney and Alderney Electricity are considering what can be done to mitigate any prospective adverse economic impacts on the community.

In the short term, AEL has committed to staying within the electricity price cap, while maintaining the existing relationship between the various tariffs.

Mr Lancaster said AEL only had limited resources.

‘However, the board of AEL has committed the company to limiting the impact of rising fuel costs on electricity prices,’ he said.

‘In the first instance, the board will introduce “Electricity Fuel Cost Relief” for a period of three months from 1 May. The value of this relief will be shown on individual bills.’

The next fuel shipment is due in April. Once the price of that if known, the AEL board will have a better understanding of how long the relief can be maintained without causing detrimental medium-term effects on the viability of the company, Mr Lancaster said.

Policy & Finance Committee chairman Bill Abel said that he expected that heating oil prices on-island would be stable until the next shipment in late July.

‘P&F and AEL have considered short-term options in detail,’ he said.

‘We have concluded that, with warmer weather on the way, the direct reliance on heating oil reduces and the most equitable way for AEL to apply relief is to limit the impact on the price of electricity.

'It is early days and the States and AEL will continue to work on how to provide energy price relief where necessary in the longer term.’

The maximum price for electricity under the price cap is 50p per unit.

After the latest fuel shipment, the price of electricity on the ‘A’ tariff is 49.86p per unit and on the ‘C’ tariff is 38.50p per unit, plus the standing charge.

The Guernsey Electricity rate on its standard tariff is 19.78p per unit.

The war in Ukraine has accelerated interest worldwide in renewable energy, and Alderney’s natural resources have long been regarded as having great potential.

Mr Lancaster said there was work ongoing to phase out the reliance of fossil fuels.

‘There’s a lot of talk about tidal energy, there are a number of potential projects which could go ahead which may prove beneficial but they are emerging technologies so we could not bank our future on that,’ he said.

‘In the short term the obvious ones are the ones that you would expect, so that’s wind, solar, and biofuels has become more prevalent.’