A “VERY small number” of businesses will face gas price hikes this year, Island Energy has said following confusion over potential changes to standing charges.
Earlier this week, one business owner highlighted an 800% increase which he had found in his quarterly gas bill. This subsequently turned out to be an error and the business has now been returned to his initial rate.
Island Energy admitted that several customers were informed of incorrect price rises which have now been corrected.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the gas provider said: “In most cases, the customers that contacted us were found to be on the wrong tariff and in all cases that we have dealt with directly, we have reached an acceptable agreement with those customers.”
A “small number” of customers also did not receive letters from the company informing them about the increase, adding to the confusion, the spokesperson added.
The rise comes after a review of commercial tariffs which Island Energy carried out across the Channel Islands that “found that several commercial customers were paying either no standing charge or a very low one”.
They have since introduced new bandings which will see most of the impacted customers faced with a higher charge, however a small number will see prices fall.
The cost rises are attributed to factors “including market volatility, rising operational costs and investment in upgrading our network”, the company spokesperson said.
