More than 250 seeking extra compensation after Jersey gas outage

A law firm has been appointed to assist consumers with compensation claims after a gas outage in October

More than 250 people are seeking to claim additional compensation from a gas supplier after losing their supplies for several days last October.

The Jersey Consumer Council (JCC) has appointed a law firm to assist consumers with compensation claims after the outage.

Some were left without gas for 10 days due to a software failure at Island Energy's (IE) gas plant.

IE, which previously offered an £11.56 refund, has been contacted for comment.

At the time of the offer, the company said it was a "gesture of goodwill" and the technical fault that caused the issue had been "beyond our control".

Up to 4,500 homes and businesses were without gas for about a week following a loss of power at La Collette.

'Out of pocket'

The JCC said more than 250 consumers had so far signed-up to seek additional compensation.

Carl Walker, from the JCC, said: "What we're asking impacted customers to do, those that are unhappy with the £11.56 offer from Island Energy, is to register with us and give us an estimation of how much they're out of pocket.

"There's a difference between compensation, but also actually people genuinely trying to recover the costs that they incurred during this outage."

Advocate Philip Sinel, senior partner at Sinels and Co, said consumers had suffered losses and incurred extra costs as a result of having no gas supply.

He said: "Sinels is happy to act on behalf of those consumers affected by last year's gas outage as, in our view, there has been a clear breach of contract.

"Losses have occurred, and, as a result, the supplier should be liable for those in our view, and we will do our best to recover those losses for consumers."

'Completely shameful'

Nigel Hammond was one of the IE customers left with no central heating or hot water during the outage.

He said while he did not know how much extra he ended up spending during the supply issues, he was sure the additional costs were more than the £11.56 being offered by IE.

Mr Hammond said a lot of his neighbours "suffered" during the outage and were forced to use other facilities or visit friends and family to get access to things such as a hot shower.

Nigel Hammond was left without central heating or hot water during the outage

He described the £11.56 offer as "derisory" and said he believed the people affected should stick together and demand more compensation from IE.

"They, by law, have a product and a service to provide," Mr Hammond said.

"They did not provide a service, so why should we suffer and have the consequences of having to prove by receipts for petrol, for food?

"Completely shameful it is."