Jersey's government criticised over gas outage response

Deputy Lyndon Farnham said he would "urge" the government to work "more closely" with Island Energy

Jersey's government has defended its response to the island-wide gas outage following claims ministers should have done more to help affected islanders.

Island Energy set out plans to begin the "reinstatement of supply from Thursday", after 4,500 customers were left without gas since Saturday.

The shutdown was caused by a software failure at the company's plant.

Ministers said responsibility for the situation laid not with government, but with the privately-owned utility firm.

But politicians past and present are among those who have criticised the government for its handling of the ongoing outage.

'Very disappointing'

"What response?" said Deputy Lyndon Farnham, when asked what he made of ministers' actions since gas services were lost.

He said: "There has been very little response. I'd go as far as to say the reaction to this has been underwhelming - I don't believe they have a plan, it's very disappointing.

"When I was involved in the government, there were ongoing exercises to ensure we were up to speed and prepared for this sort of emergency."

Mr Farnham said he would "urge" the government to work "more closely" with the company, and to "get on the front foot and start to provide some certainty and reassurances for islanders and local businesses who are the ones suffering real loss, not only to their business, but potentially to their wellbeing".

Reform Jersey member Deputy Montfort Tadier said that he had asked the economic development minister to respond to a number of questions about the impact of the ongoing outage on businesses.

He said that officials had "not been responsive enough", adding: "There are lots of questions that need to be answered, and answered urgently by government."

Richard Buchanan said islanders needed "a lot more reassurance"

Richard Buchanan, former assistant chief minister, said the government had not "grasped what a crisis it is for people who are on gas".

He said: "Maybe the government are doing something about it, but it's not visible; and I think the general voting public need a lot more reassurance.

"The government has an overriding responsibility to islanders to make sure that the services they are expecting are provided. As such, they should be more proactive in getting things sorted out.

"They've got technicians on hand, they could help Jersey Gas get this done. This is not just some ordinary event - this is a crisis and, for some people, it's a big crisis.

"I just think they could be doing more."

Deputy Helen Miles said the government could not "be seen to interfere" with a private company's restoration plan

In response to the criticism, Home Affairs Minister Helen Miles said: "We are in a position where we have a private company - that always has been a private company - supplying gas.

"It isn't for the government to step in and take over that, they have a business continuity plan.

"As a government, as the competent authority, I am happy that they are executing that plan to the best of their ability."

Ms Miles said the government could not "be seen to interfere" with a private company's restoration plan.

She said: "It's absolutely essential that as a private company they do things at their pace in a safe manner.

"We can put pressure on them to provide a support and welfare plan, but it is entirely down to that private company to provide a solution."

Jo Cox, CEO of Island Energy, said the government had been supportive in aiding its restoration programme.

She said: "We have come together with the Jersey government to see how they can support us without putting undue pressure on us to get the supply back on.

"No-one wants to take a quick route and risk safety."

A government statement said: "Ministers and officials have expressed their disappointment that it has taken this long to resolve, but understand a safe return of supply is essential.

"We understand the incident is incredibly disruptive for 5% of islanders who rely on the service.

"While it falls short of a systemic crisis that would trigger a major incident, the government continues to review this as part of daily multi-agency meetings and will escalate further if necessary."

'Lessons learned'

On Tuesday, the government said that it had opened Les Quennevais Sports Centre for non-members to have access to hot water and showers.

Deputy Miles said government officials had also been helping to relay communications on behalf of the gas company.

But she ruled out offering public sector staff to help get the gas network back up and running.

Ms Miles also said that taxpayers would not be funding compensation for affected Island Energy customers.

She said: "Government are in close contact with Islands Energy Group. I can assure you that those conversations have been extremely robust and extremely firm.

"I am going to be asking the directors of Ancala, the parent company, in to come and see us next week - the main focus is getting restoration of the supply.

"After that, we need to look at the lessons learned from this event."

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