RESILIENCE in the Island’s energy sector is being compromised by a lack of a coherent, joined-up approach across government, a new report has warned.
In the report, published today, comptroller and auditor general Lynn Pamment says roles and responsibilities are not clear enough and there is no single person, team or department responsible for co-ordinating energy matters.
There is also no requirement or clear expectation for teams in various departments to work effectively together, according to Ms Pamment.
She says that the government’s approach has been severely tested by recent critical incidents, including the Covid-19 pandemic, the Haut du Mont explosion, last year’s floods, October’s gas outage and the impact of Storm Ciarán.
While she acknowledges that the government has learned from each of these incidents, carrying out six debriefing exercises, she says a great deal still needs to be done to bring that learning into effect.
Ms Pamment said: “A framework and documentation have been put in place to manage critical incidents and promote resilience. A new Resilience Law is proposed, based on good practice in other jurisdictions. These developments have potential to enhance controls, manage risk, provide assurance and promote resilience.
“However, urgent action is required to put in place a robust community risk register, including energy infrastructure risks owned and managed by the government and individual suppliers. Effective relationships must be built between the government and all energy providers to enable the Jersey Resilience Forum to function effectively in respect of energy infrastructure risks.”
The critical incidents that the government and its partners have responded to should be a catalyst to address weaknesses in managing energy resilience, she says, adding that there is work to do provide Islanders with assurance on energy supply, fuel storage and distribution.
“Clear, resourced action plans should be developed to demonstrate how capacity is to be enhanced in an integrated way which balances short and medium-term risk management, and the needs and opportunities of future energy policy,” she said.
Ms Pamment found there was no definition of critical national infrastructure in the Island and no cross-cutting infrastructure policy.
“Significant public funds can be spent responding to emergencies relating to critical infrastructure. It is important for Jersey to have in place an effective resilience framework supported by effective resilience plans and procedures across the States, asset owners and operators,” she said.
Responding to the report, Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan said: “Ministers welcome this review of critical energy infrastructure, which was carried out in a collaborative way and, importantly, involved all our Island energy providers.
“Storm Ciarán, the Haut du Mont disaster and the other major incidents of the last two years have shown how resilient Jersey is, and how effective we are when we all work together. But the new government is the first to acknowledge there is still more to be done on our resilience in the current challenging global environment, and we are already working to put the necessary measures in place.
“The government is working to improve our resilience laws and community risk register, and we will look carefully at how we can best address the other potential improvements highlighted in the Comptroller and Auditor General’s review.
“We’ll continue to work closely with our local energy providers, and I expect them to respond to this review practically and promptly, especially in terms of resilience planning.”
