To power ahead we need direction from the States

It joins other major pieces of work that appear to have got stuck in treacle, promised in 2018 but now expected by the middle of this year.

Allied to that are the investigations into how fuel is delivered to the island – another vastly costly capital project.

Guernsey Electricity has made no secret of the fact that it needs the States to decide what the vision is before it can make key investment decisions, but the fragility of the situation has been shown with the current problems.

Since October it has been generating far more electricity on island than it would like after firstly an onshore fault with the cable link in Jersey, and then another issue offshore which means it can’t pump as much power through the line as normal.

On-island generation means the lights are still on – but the costs will be in the millions because of both the cable repair bill and because it is more expensive to run the diesel engines.

Emissions will also soar, while the inconvenience to neighbours is well known.

The consumer will eventually pay, so this matters in more than just abstract terms.

A second cable running directly to France would have guarded against all this financial and environmental headache.

At the end of 2016 the company was talking about making the final decision on whether to go down this route last year, for commissioning in 2022.

But the desire for this link dates back even further – as early as 2013 the business case was being made.

A decision was delayed then because there were fears the cable to Jersey would need to be replaced – mirroring exactly where the company is now.

At the time a £45m. price was put on a new Jersey link.

But what is the States’ vision for the future?

Does it see an electric society, like so many others do, and when?

Will it be encouraging home generation and storage solutions?

Will it use the tax system to change behaviours – and how?

Does it see any macro renewable generation playing a role and how?

The grab for wider territorial seas and control of the seabed announced this week is being ushered through ostensibly because of Brexit and has obvious implications should it ever come to licensing operators that want to take advantage of the wind and tidal power in the Bailiwick.

Offshore wind is an increasingly established player in other jurisdictions – and not far from these shores, too, with France pushing ahead.

But as it stands no one is any the wiser as to how this all dovetails together.

At an acute moment in Guernsey Electricity’s history, all it can do is sit and wait when it comes to making key investment decisions.

Things are in flux.

Technological advances are expected to reshape the energy industry – that is why the company is out consulting on how it charges consumers.

It is not hard to envisage a future where the utility’s big generators or cable link is not the main source of households’ or business’ power.

Its main role may be transitioning slowly but inevitably towards one where it irons out the peaks and troughs in self-generation and maintains the network infrastructure to do that.

Could its next major investment be in battery installations instead of big cables and giant engines?

This is all creating another headache in how it generates the income to pay for the maintenance of the network given its heavy reliance on charging for electricity use.

That could well see the blunt fixed charged everyone pays rising, but it needs to guard against creating inequality in a system where those with the capital to invest in self-generation and storage leave an unfair amount of the burden on those who cannot afford too.

These are challenges that are not unique to Guernsey, but the island’s size and natural resources in the wind, tides and solar energy leaves it in a unique place.

Just how long it holds on to old technology will in part be driven by society’s desire for change.

Ultimately, for most that will be based on cost and convenience, they do not have the luxury of being ideologically driven – and there is a tipping point which has not yet been reached.

For example, while there are more electric vehicles in the island than ever before, they number in the hundreds, while there are 83,500 petrol and diesel burning equivalents still registered.

Commercial solar schemes may be on the roofs on the electricity offices and soon at the main post office building, but they are not yet a common sight.

The installation of the cable link to France was visionary and more successful than those behind it could ever have imagined.

What Guernsey is lacking at the moment is the same kind of vision for this generation.

Everyone will hope that is forthcoming sooner rather than later.