Jersey electricity prices to decrease

People in Jersey will be charged less for their electricity from the beginning of 2010.

Jersey Electricity said from 1 January existing electricity prices will decrease by an average of 5.1%.

At the beginning of this year the company increased its unit charges by 25% because of "strongly rising" global electricity costs.

Chief executive Chris Ambler said since then they had been "aggressively seeking out ways to cut costs".

The forthcoming price drop should reduce bills for the average domestic property by around £45 a year, the company said.

It said falling wholesale electricity costs and "tactical purchasing and cost control within the business" had enabled it to reduce its tariff.

Mr Ambler said: "We hope it will ease some of the pain our customers are suffering in these difficult economic times."

One of the ways the company has made savings is by generating more electricity locally, because of low oil prices earlier this year, he said.

"We took advantage of filling up our tanks at La Collette and that's given us the flexibility to generate locally when it's cheaper to do so.

"I would stress we've been very careful about maintaining our carbon emission targets. But there are certain points in the day when it can be significantly cheaper to generate locally."

I wonder wether the electric in Guernsey will do the same?

maybe its time guernsey electricity consodered how their customers are coping with ever increasing costs of electricity.i know i will be putting on an extra jumper this winter as i wont be able to afford to turn my heating on in most of the house.

and me, my boliers broken and my cyl is leaking, best part of 3k to get replaced..

heating will be in daughters room and the lounge and that is it

I don't have central heating!!! so nothing to put on :-)

THE managing director of Jersey Gas has branded a call by the Environment Minister for an independent study into the carbon footprint of imported electricity a ‘smokescreen’.

Senator Freddie Cohen said last week that he wanted the fuel companies to pay for the study after a war of words broke out between Jersey Electricity and Jersey Gas over both the cost and carbon footprint of imported electricity.

The row broke out after it was revealed that new ‘green’ building by-laws were being introduced by Planning which would make it harder to get access to a gas supply and easier to get electricity. Planning claimed that electricity in the Island had a lower carbon fuel count, compared to gas.

http://www.thisisjersey.com/2009/11/03/by-laws-a-death-knell-for-gas/#comments

So the most expensive heating fuel Electricity ( up 24% in 2009) under new bye laws, is the choice for planning, on the grounds of the environment. That means obviously that all draconian restrictions will be lifted on installing double glazing with the exception of Grade 1 historic properties.

Minister Cohen will also instruct the JEC to equal the charge of heating and providing hot water to a property in line with the equivalend cost of oil or gas. This means the JEC reducing the cost substantially throughout the electricity market. If not then Senator Cohen is putting the consumer at a disadvantage which is against all the rules of free choice and democracy.

To the assembly it must go out of the hands of planning.

Boatyboy.

As I've said before Boatyboy,between the Islands we must have some of the most perverse b*st**rd polititians going.(see our recent go ahead for the airport fireman enquiry)