Guernsey Press

Should we get financial credit for power cuts?

I HAVE just been informed we will be given a 150 euro credit off our next EDF electricity bill for our quarry in France as we had a power cut.

Published

We have not requested any compensation or credit. We do not use much electricity so the credit is very generous. I’m not sure if this is a regular thing or policy of EDF or how long the power cut was, but it is an interesting concept.

I have wondered for a long time if we should get financial credit for power cuts here in Guernsey. It does seem cheeky of Guernsey Electricity (and any other electricity or service provider) not to make a credit when there is a break in the service. OK, we do need to accept that there will be power cuts now and then and we have to deal with them, but what about people who have to throw away a freezer full of food or if internet access prevented a payment being made, resulting in a penalty? It’s rather disgruntling to suffer this with no compensation.

Maybe such service providers would argue that tariffs would need to go up to cover compensation. This is fair enough if the provider was a non-profit making one. Paying big bonuses for no justifiable reason to higher level management cannot really be morally justifiable classed as a business expense – it is a distribution of profits. Like the terminology or not, it’s true.

However, Guernsey Electricity’s monumental price increases (it’s not 9%, it’s 9% on the electricity used, but 57% on the standing charge), is unlikely to go to fund compensation. It has been stated as being for investment in the network. This I assume will reduce power cuts and a need for compensation. Maybe electricity prices will reduce in the future as a result of this investment funding. But fuel prices may as well drop and Aurigny may give out sausage and bacon sarnies on their flights.

To be fair there hasn’t been much increase in the cost of electricity lately, so it could well be justified, although I totally disagree with the structure of charging and its split between standing charges and the electricity used. It certainly doesn’t subscribe to the mandate of user pays. Quite reminiscing of the standing charge for waste. Certainly wasn’t a single householder or pensioners who came up with that way of paying for waste, was it?

LANCE VAUDIN

Editor’s footnote: a spokesman for Guernsey Electricity responds:

Thank you for the opportunity to reply to the letter sent in by a reader.

At Guernsey Electricity, we are committed to providing the best-possible service and this is measured by our guaranteed and overall service standards, details of which can be found at www.electricity.gg/legal.

We are proud to deliver a very reliable supply of electricity to our customers. In 2021, for example, Guernsey Electricity achieved the lowest figure for customer minutes lost for five years, with supplies to customers maintained at 99.99% availability, and 96% of all faults were repaired within just three hours.

To continue to provide these standards of service, Guernsey Electricity needs to continue to invest in the island’s power network.

The cost of electricity rose on 1 July by 9% to fund much-needed investment in the local infrastructure and network. This is to prepare for the predicted growth in demand for electricity as consumers transition away from the use of fossil fuels for transport and heating.

The increase was in both the unit price of electricity and the standing charges which together make up customer bills. This means the actual difference that customers will see depends on how much electricity they use and which particular tariff products they have selected.

Customers can check and manage their energy usage through our tariff calculator, www.electricity.gg/electricity/tariffs/manage-your-energy-use/.

If anyone is concerned or struggling to pay their bills, they are encouraged to contact our customer services teams through 200700, or by emailing customer@electricity.gg.

We would like to provide some reassurance that Guernsey achieves one of the highest reliability figures in the UK. Guernsey Electricity is also committed to maintaining these and our guaranteed service standards ensure that if there are long, unplanned power cuts, customers are appropriately recompensed.

We fully recognise that these changes come at a time when the cost of living for everyone is increasing, but we cannot delay this investment so need to prepare for the future and ensure ongoing reliability.