Second rise in five years sees tariffs increase 3.5% from April
Electricity prices in Jersey will rise by 3.5% from 1 April 2019. The rise, only the second in five years, is below the latest inflation figure of 3.9% and will add around 65p a week to the average domestic bill of £965 a year. Jersey Electricity CEO Chris Ambler said the rise was inevitable following the fall in foreign exchange rates and other inflationary pressures.
Mr Ambler said: ‘We import 95% of Jersey’s electricity and our supply agreement with EDF in France combines a fixed price component with the ability to hedge our purchasing over a rolling three-year period. These hedging arrangements have sheltered our customers greatly in recent years, but the sustained weakness in Sterling relative to the Euro eventually flows through into our costs. By keeping this rise below inflation and by deferring its implementation until after the winter, we have minimised the impact on household budgets.
‘Providing affordable electricity and maintaining stable pricing are the most important factors in the provision of our service to customers. This is only the second rise in five years, following last year’s 2% increase which is a notable achievement given the scale of our investment in infrastructure in recent years. In the UK, where prices have risen 24% in the last two years, Ofgem (the Energy Regulator), has introduced a price cap on the amount suppliers can charge for standard electricity tariffs. These UK capped tariffs will be rising by 11% from 1 April and after Jersey’s 3.5% rise, they become around one third more expensive than the average price for a typical Jersey domestic customer.’
Following Jersey Electricity’s multi-million-pound investment in two new undersea cables in 2014 and 2016, Jersey now also benefits from a virtually decarbonised and highly secure electricity supply via three links to France. One third of all electricity supplied in Jersey is from renewable hydro sources. At 24g CO2e /kWh in 2018, Jersey’s electricity supply is one tenth of the emissions of the UK grid calculated at 238g CO2e /kWh*.
*Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Greenhouse Gas Reporting –Conversion Factors 2018
