A NEW chief executive will spend his first full day at the helm of the company which provides Jersey’s gas supply tomorrow following the abrupt departure of the previous incumbent.
Islands Energy Group confirmed yesterday that Jo Cox had left her role with immediate effect, with Aidan Baglow, formerly managing director of Manx Gas in the Isle of Man, taking up an interim role.
A statement from the group, which has subsidiary businesses in Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, said Ms Cox had left “to pursue a new opportunity”.
Mr Baglow paid tribute to his embattled predecessor, saying that during her three-year stint she had “successfully managed the group through a challenging period within the energy sector”.
During Ms Cox’s torrid tenure, the Jersey business faced controversy following an outage which left customers without gas in October 2023, with some businesses and householders having no supply for up to two weeks.
Customers were offered a token £11.56 payment, but many have joined a legal battle for higher compensation, with the Jersey Consumer Council confirming this week that the campaign was continuing, nearly a year after the outage.
Ms Cox was also in charge of the company at the time of the Haut du Mont explosion, which claimed the lives of ten Islanders in December 2022. A police investigation into the cause of the blast continues.
In the immediate aftermath of the blast, Ms Cox offered her condolences to the families “who have lost loved ones at this tragic time”, and said Islands Energy Group was conducting its own internal investigation as well as carrying out safety tests on the Island’s gas supply.
In June this year, an explosion at Mont Pinel in St Helier caused extensive damage to properties and forced several residents to evacuate their homes. Jersey Fire and Rescue Service said gas was the most probable cause of the explosion, with Islands Energy Group pledging to carry out “an additional survey” of its network.
Announcing Mr Baglow’s appointment, the company described him as “a highly experienced gas industry professional, who has worked in gas operations, project management and technical lead roles for more than 36 years”.
Mr Baglow joined Isle of Man Energy in 2008.
