Electricity Strategy for cable from Guernsey to France passed

The direct cable to France would provide more security to supplies, said Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez

A project to investigate building a new electricity cable between France and Guernsey has been given the go-ahead.

The project, costing £1.8bn up to 2050, also includes a scheme to build a new offshore windfarm and put a greater focus on solar generation locally.

Environment and Infrastructure (E&I) has warned continuing to generate power in the current way will cost £200m more than its plan.

Critics claimed the new cable would not provide more resilience.

Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez, E&I President, said: "This pathway gives us much better energy security, much greater energy independence and it's more affordable."

She has warned in the short-term prices will rise, but this strategy would mean in the long-term bills would eventually fall.

A call for an investigation into closer working between Guernsey and Jersey Electricity was rejected

Deputy Mark Helyar, Deputy Chief Minister, criticised the plan to build a new cable to France, saying he did not believe it would give any more resilience than the current link that runs to France via Jersey.

He said: "There are lots of concerns with the working relationship between Guernsey and Jersey over the current cable.

"That seems to be driving the desire to connect with France which is no more secure and is £100m more expensive."

Deputy Adrian Gabriel, E&I Vice President, said while this strategy does have high costs, a lot of the £1.8bn will just be people's normal electricity bills.

He said: "Our plan will save the island £200m over the next 27 years."

An attempt by Deputy David De Lisle to remove the stand-by charge on all methods of power generation at home was defeated.

Jersey merger 'speculation'

A move from E&I to look at speeding up the removal of the stand-by charge for renewable generation methods was successful.

Under the current tariffs from Guernsey Electricity a stand-by charge limits installations to below 25kW installed before applying a £3.07 charge per kW per month.

Proposals from Mr Helyar to investigate closer working between Guernsey and Jersey Electricity were rejected in a tight 18-20 vote by States members.

Jersey Electricity put out a statement before the vote that said: "The directors of Jersey Electricity Plc note the recent press speculation regarding a potential merger with Guernsey Electricity.

"The directors have not received an approach by either the management team or the owner of Guernsey Electricity and no active discussions are taking place."

They added: "The Board of Jersey Electricity are always open to ways to enhance shareholder value for the benefit of shareholders."

Deputy Peter Ferbrache, Chief Minister, said in the future he would like to see the power station on The Bridge moved to reclaimed land at Longue Hougue.

Deputy Peter Roffey, States Trading Supervisory Board President, agreed but cautioned that unless the States gave direction on the future location for inert waste that the space at Longue Hougue would be "covered in rubble for the next eight years".

He added that the diesel generators at the power station were nearing the end of their working life and would need to be replaced under this current scheme.