GUERNSEY politicians have taken several swipes at Jersey – alleging the Island ‘will eat your breakfast and probably your lunch’ if given the chance – during a heated debate that showed tribalism is still alive in the Channel Islands…
Accusations that Jersey has a poor track record of pan-Island collaboration were raised by Sarnian politicians yesterday, during a debate over a proposal to review the possibility of greater collaboration between Jersey Electricity and GEL. One deputy, Andy Taylor, accused Jersey of leaving his island ‘in something very smelly’.
An amendment – put forward by deputies Mark Helyar and Jonathan Le Tocq – also asked Guernsey’s politicians to agree to explore the benefits and challenges ‘in potentially establishing a single, consolidated Channel Islands electricity business’.
However, after several members raised previous issues with pan-island working, it was voted out 20 to 18.
Among those who aired historic ‘dirty laundry’ during the debate was Deputy Peter Roffey, the President of the States Trading and Supervisory Board, which has oversight of GEL.
He said: ‘I agree with those that say there are areas for working together. The Channel Island Electricity Grid… has given us better purchasing power, but the work underneath? My goodness, it has been difficult.
‘The cable between here and Jersey has significantly more capacity than we are licensed under the CIEG to actually take through to Guernsey – this was done originally because the interconnector between Jersey and France only had limited capacity and that was seen as Guernsey’s fair share.
‘Now, extra capacity has been put in between Jersey and France, and we’ve asked, “Well, why can’t we take more through the onward cable to Guernsey?” The door closed in our face, and it means more electricity has to be generated in Guernsey at more cost. It is not a good working relationship.’
Additionally, Deputy Al Brouard claimed that when the GJ1 cable between Guernsey and Jersey was on the verge of failing several years ago, ‘GEL and JE contributed to the repair, but JE capped the amount it was willing to pay rather than its liability under the CI agreement’.
‘In 2018, GEL paid for the repair and there was no contribution from JE – they refused to pay their share after the work in 2015,’ he said.
And Deputy Andy Taylor raised concerns following his own experiences with cross-island work on the Cyber Emergency Response Team.
‘What I had established is that we were working very hard with Jersey and we were working towards a common goal. They change their mind and I won’t say where they left us, but it was in something very smelly, and we’ve had to do extra work to get the project back on track.’
Some offered a different take however, including deputy Neil Inder, who said: ‘Having met some of the senior politicians in Jersey I genuinely think there is a desire for us to work together,’ he said.
‘What I often find is that it’s officers potentially who don’t want to, and I’m reminded by deputy Trott of some very salient points, that Jersey will eat your breakfast and probably your lunch as well if they get a hold of it – but hope springs eternal!’
Speaking to the JEP after the vote, Deputy Le Tocq said it was clear there was ‘a lot to overcome’ if collaborative working between the islands was to be progressed.
‘If you listen to the debate it was actually a better result than I anticipated, as there was a lot of negativity about joint-working with Jersey in the past.
‘It was useful to tease those points out and highlight them to Jersey colleagues,’ he added.
He also said that potential collaboration on large-scale infrastructure projects, such as a wind farm, had ‘absolutely’ been part of the drive behind the amendment.
‘That could be part of it but in the meantime it is also worth looking at how JE and GEL could work collaboratively together,’ he added.
The JEP has asked Jersey Electricity, Environment Minister Jonathan Renouf and Assistant Environment Minister Hilary Jeune for comment, but had not received anything by the time of going to print.
However, in a statement released on the London Stock Exchange Regulatory News Channel, JE 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.
‘The board of Jersey Electricity are always open to ways to enhance shareholder value for the benefit of shareholders.’
