Jersey gas outage: Launderette owner fears for business

Karen Ecobichon-Gray says the gas outage may affect her business

A launderette owner in Jersey said her business could be affected if the island's gas supply does not return soon.

About 4,500 people in Jersey have been without gas after a software failure triggered the plant's shutdown on Saturday.

Island Energy said customers will start to be reconnected from Thursday.

Karen Ecobichon-Gray's closed launderette is her "only source of income", she said.

She said: "It's a community business, it's community run and I run it myself. I literally go from week to week. I can't be out of work for days or weeks. I need to make my living now.

"Really can't do without the business. I need the income and it's my only source of income so without it I'm a bit of a mess."

The launderette has had to close until the gas is restored

Jo Cox, Island Energy CEO, said the firm would be "looking at compensation on a case by case basis" due to the impact on some businesses being "much bigger than others".

She said: "We're doing everything that we can to get the supply back on as quickly as we can in the safest possible way, I'm really hoping that it'll only be a week impact.

"I know that's a big impact on some businesses - I would encourage them to look at their insurance as well because quite often you'll have a disruption to service insurance, so I've encouraged them to look at that, but if they have got real concerns on an individual basis please reach out to us directly."

The company said the restoration would be a staged process and customers would be informed by the company when it was safe to turn on their gas.

"There are a number of customers who require a visit from an engineer - these will start on Thursday," Island Energy said in a statement.

"Please do not turn on your gas until you have been told it is safe to do so."

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