Sark’s power struggle will divide island

Another expensive court battle is looming as the power company tries to fight off a price control order it says will leave it bankrupt. A quarter of the permanent population have said they will refuse to pay a portion of the bill that they see as unfair. A leading hotel has announced it has no choice but to start producing its own power through renewables.

Taken to its ultimate conclusion, there will not be enough people and businesses paying for their power to keep the centralised infrastructure up and running, dividing Sark between those who can then afford to run their own generation to keep the lights on and those who cannot. The island will be unsustainable without reliable power for all.

There is distrust in the company, in the regulator, and in the government. The company doesn’t want to charge what it has proposed, but claims there is no choice because of the legal costs of fighting the price control commissioner. It argues government is deliberately trying to devalue it before a nationalisation attempt.

Costly regulation should not be necessary in such a small community, that it has happened is a reflection of a badly soured relationship. Without intervention a public health emergency will unfold, yet the island’s government is virtually silent.

There are solutions – all would require people to give ground.

Nationalisation at a fair price. Ending the role of the price regulator and allowing the company to recoup its costs in a more even handed and less harmful way. Guernsey Electricity taking control, although that ultimately comes at a risk to taxpayers and bill payers here.

Renewables could easily play a part in the electricity mix in Sark, but there is no vision on feed-in tariffs or a realistic level of standing charge to keep the island-wide grid running for when it is needed to cover down times.

With no energy policy, no long-term or even short-term strategy, what is left is virtually chaos. It is like watching a farce where everyone just keeps stubbornly doing the wrong thing – the result, though, could be catastrophic.