Will the lights go out on Sark this Christmas?

Sark, the island in the English Channel where the very rich go to hide their wealth and where FT Alphaville bloggers go to get told they’re not real journalists, has been in the midst of an electricity crisis for over a year now (as regular readers of this blog and indeed this newspaper might be aware). 

LastTowards the end of last , the island’s monopolistic power company, Sark Electricity Limited, threatened to switch off the power after being told by an independent price commissioner to slash its prices. This was especially concerning given that it was winter time, and given that semi-feudal Sark has no streetlights (it is officially designated a “Dark Sky Island”, in fact).

A temporary solution was found, with the government (called “Chief Pleas”) agreeing to buy out the company but, as we reported at the time, the two sides could not agree on a price and the buyout never happened, despite what appeared to be some kind of truce during the high-season summer months. 

Then, at the end of September, SEL wrote to customers to tell them their electricity prices were being hiked by 29 per cent — from 66 to 85 pence per kilowatt-hours, which would make Sark’s electricity the most expensive known electricity prices in the world — alhough the company then said it would put a freeze on prices while talks were held over a “Bailiwick option”: selling SEL to Guernsey Electricity. (Sark is part of the “bailiwick” of Guernsey.)

On Friday, though, came a new twist in the tale: the independent price commissioner, Dr Anthony White, put a formal cap on Sark’s power prices, starting on January 1st 2020 and lasting two years: 54 pence per unit, which he called “fair and reasonable” (having deemed SEL’s prices neither the former nor the latter). 

For context, the UK average is 16 pence, so this is still very expensive, but on an island of 400 inhabitants, where electricity is generated from imported diesel that arrives on passenger boats from Guernsey, it’s a bit tricky to reach any kind of economy of scale. (The Barclay Brothers’ neighbouring island of Brecqhou, which is formally a part of Sark, generates its own electricity, incidentally.) 

From the press release: 

The decision to impose a legally enforceable Price Control Order (PCO), which will last two years, follows a lengthy process throughout 2019 of investigation and consultation, not only with SEL but also electricity consumers and other interested parties.

Sark Electricity Limited has accused the Commissioner of bias, collusion and of trying to bankrupt the company. They also claim that his basis for deriving a fair price for electricity was “flawed and devoid of any economic reality.” After careful consideration of all their points, the Commissioner has rejected their arguments as being “without merit.”

Dr White states that it is unacceptable for SEL to try to pass on to customers excessive legal costs incurred by the company in trying to thwart his official cost appraisal process.

We know the Sark meat draw is normally held on Fridays (5pm to be precise), but can anyone else smell the beef here?

The Sarkees are now waiting to hear whether Mr Gordon-Brown — no, not the one who called that woman a bigot; another one, whose first name is David, and who runs Sark Electricity Limited — will abide by the price order and keep the electricity going on January 1st. We tried to contact him but have not yet had a response. 

The islanders say, though, that there are unofficial rumblings that Mr Gordon-Brown will keep on the electricity for now. Paul Armorgie, who runs one of Sark’s two operational hotels, “Stocks”, told us:

We have had indirect contact with David Gordon-Brown and he is saying to us that he won’t throw the big switch on the 1st of January so there won’t be a knee-jerk reaction to the price control order, but only as long as the discussions are progressing between SEL, Guernsey Electricity and Chief Pleas. He’s not going to hold a gun to our head. 

There you have it. He won’t throw the big switch! It looks like Sark’s lights will stay on over Christmas, and even into the New Year. But we doubt this will be the end of this strange saga…

Related links:
Sark’s electricity crisis is brewing again – FT Alphaville
Sark’s energy hits prices only billionaires can afford — FT Alphaville
Dark times for Sark as electricity crisis looms — FT
Sark: how electricity sparked Channel Island crisis — FT video
Alphaville spent 36 hours on the island of Sark. Here’s how it went — FT Alphaville
When fake news purveyors visit Sark — FT Alphaville
WHY DID THE FINANCIAL TIMES BLOGGER JEMIMA KELLY TRAVEL ALL THE WAY TO SARK IN THE DEPTHS OF WINTER? — Sark Newspaper
WE ARE NONE THE WISER AS TO WHY THE FINANCIAL TIMES BLOGGER JEMIMA KELLY TRAVELLED TO SARK IN THE DEPTHS OF WINTER — Sark Newspaper