Hundreds complain over gas outage - report

Hundreds of people complained to Jersey Consumer Council when they were left without gas for up to three weeks, a report has revealed.

More than 4,500 islanders were affected by the outage on 7 October, which was caused by a software failure at Island Energy (IE).

In its annual report, the council said the largest issue it faced last year was customers complaining about the compensation they were offered.

More than 400 people expressed their "dissatisfaction" over the £11.52 "gesture of goodwill" paid by IE for up to three weeks without a gas supply to heat water, their homes and to cook.

In the report, the council said it was "still working with lawyers to recover the extra costs islanders incurred as a result of the energy supply cut".

It said: "Without question, the largest single issue we faced was the gas outage in October, which has subsequently seen more than 400 islanders register with the council to express their dissatisfaction at the £11.52 ‘gesture of goodwill’."

The outage also impacted restaurants, which had to close or offer a reduced service.