Consumer group could sue energy firm over outage

A Jersey consumer group said it could be forced to sue a local energy company on behalf of customers, after it said the firm had failed to properly compensate them for a gas outage that happened nearly a year ago.

Island Energy (IE) previously offered customers £11.56 compensation after some were left without gas for up to five weeks last October.

Jersey Consumer Council (JCC) called the offer "derisory" and said customers in the UK would be offered up to £60 a day for a similar outage.

A letter from JCC's lawyers to IE, seen by the BBC, said the firm intended "to pursue an action on behalf of 420 consumers" left without gas should a "satisfactory compromise" not be reached.

Carl Walker, chairman of JCC, said he hoped to "avoid it ever getting near a courtroom and getting a sensible outcome for consumers who have been impacted nearly 12 months ago".

He said: "It's reached the point where negotiations could go no further so we engaged the services of a lawyer to hopefully get the company to take more action, which was effectively nothing."

A spokesperson for IE said: "We apologised to our gas customers for the disruption to the supply in October 2023 and refunded them with the equivalent to one month's standing charge following the outage.

"We are focused on continuing to deliver our energy services to customers on the island."

Mr Walker said domestic consumers had to incur "extra costs" such as "buying electrical items, buying microwaves, other ways to prepare food - we're trying to help them recover that as well".

He said the outage had also "significantly impacted" businesses, "particularly the food industry".

The JCC would "keep fighting tooth and nail" to get "what people deserve", he said.

Mr Walker said: "Island Energy, please get round the table with us and apply some common sense to this - eleven pounds doesn't go anywhere near what people have incurred.

"It's not just compensation, it's the costs that people have had during that outage to cook food, wash themselves and their clothes for their children. Come on and be a bit more realistic."

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