Islanders wanting to register their disappointment in the £11.56 ‘goodwill gesture’ offered following last year’s gas outage have until next Friday to complete our online survey.
To date, around 400 households have registered with us to express their dissatisfaction in the offer made by Island Energy following the outage in October 2023 – which in some cases left consumers without energy for up to two weeks.
Households have now been offered a £11.56 ‘goodwill gesture’ to make up for the disruption – however, numerous customers have told us that this goes nowhere near covering the true expense they experienced. We’re now working with a local lawyer to try and help consumers recover some of the losses they incurred.
We’ve been running an online survey, which has now been completed by around 400 households affected by the outage, which occurred on 7 October when a technical fault by Island Energy left around 4,000 Islanders without gas. Had the energy provider been regulated – like in the UK – it would have had to pay £60 for every day a customer went without gas beyond the first 24 hours.
Comments from those who’ve completed our online form so far include:
“The way they’ve treated us is totally disgusting – we’ve been a lloyal customer for over 30 years and the £11.36 is insulting.”
“That offer is insulting. Thankfully the outage was not during a cold period. The fact that the company has no legal obligation to reimburse customers for the outage should not absolve them from a moral responsibility.”
“The Consumers are NOT idiots and shouldn't be treated as such! The offer is a total insult.”
Before announcing the ‘goodwill gesture’, Island Energy increased the price of gas by 12%, which is about £13.80 for an average family house (in Guernsey it was increased by 8%).
Advocate Philip Sinel, Senior Partner at Sinels and Co, has now agreed to work with us and act for Island Energy customers.
He said: “Sinels is happy to act on behalf of those consumers affected by last year’s gas outage as, in our view, there has been a clear breach of contract. Losses have occurred, and as a result, the supplier should be liable for those in our view, and we will do our best to recover those losses for consumers.”
If you’d like to be included in the action being taken by the Jersey Consumer Council and Sinels, please register below by completing our short online form by Friday, 22 March. You can also email contact@consumercouncil.je to request a paper form.
Please ensure that when you fill in the form you include an email address and your Island Energy customer number:
Our Chairman Carl Walker said: “It’s clear that many Islanders were both inconvenienced, as well as financially affected by the gas outage. Consumers couldn’t heat their homes, cook meals, or even wash in hot water. An offer of £11.56 is nothing short of an insult to its customers by Island Energy.’