Guernsey Electricity had closed its Bridge shop due to the protest on Saturday morning and declined to speak at the event, which took place outside its offices.
The cost of electricity is due to rise by 8% next month. This follows annual increases made in the past few summers of 10% in 2024, 13% in 2023 and 9% in 2022.
There was a strong feeling of anger among the crowd on Saturday, which had a mix of ages.
Seven-year-old Axel De Carteret had made a protest banner to wave, as he attended the event with his parents, Lindsay and Deke. Mrs De Carteret, 38, works in a warehouse, while her husband is a tyre fitter. She said that life was already a struggle, before price rises came in.
‘We have to sometimes prioritise bills over everything else,’ she said.
‘It’s hard. When you’re working pay cheque to pay cheque.’
She said her issue was with the rising standing charge.
‘It keeps going up and up, but it never matches wages,’ she said.
‘The standing charge is different because we have to pay it, but if it was usage [going up] then we could monitor it.’
Her mum Jan Guillou, 64, had been looking to retire in a few years. But with the cost of living going up, she was worried that she might struggle to be able to afford it. She had swapped over her home to be all-electric, so the price rises were a big worry.
‘It makes me very angry that they do this,’ she said.
Another woman, in her 60s and living with her husband, said the price rises would affect everyone.
‘Wages are not going up, so people are going to have less disposable income, and that will affect local businesses,’ she said.
‘I hope Guernsey Electricity will listen.’
Myles Duquemin organised the event and told the crowd he had met with Guernsey Electricity, which had explained its position to him. But he remained concerned about the impact the price rise would have.
‘Electricity should not be a luxury,’ he said.
‘It should be a human right.’
He said he would be handing in a petition, which has so far attracted more than 1,300 signatures, at the first meeting of the new States on 1 July, the day the price rises are due to come into effect.
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