Island Energy boss 'unware' of letters doubling customers' gas bills during days-long outage
Island Energy's CEO says the company "hasn't been sending any bills" despite customers receiving letters informing them their Direct Debits would increase
Gas customers in Jersey have received letters informing them their monthly bills would multiply, in the midst of an island-wide outage which left no mains gas available for days.
Residents shared their disbelief on social media after receiving the letters from utility company Island Energy.
It comes as a technical fault at the company's plant at La Collette has left thousands of homes and businesses without any heating, hot water or gas appliances since Saturday 7 October.
ITV News has seen some of the letters customers received, which appeared to come from Island Energy's sister company, Isle of Man Energy.
They read: "We have completed a review of your gas consumption and monthly Direct Debit payments made over the past 12 months and note that your current monthly payment does not meet your gas consumption.
"We are therefore writing to give you notice that your monthly payment is required to increase."
The price rise is due to come into effect from customers' November 2023 bills.
In some cases, customers reported their monthly bills would be going up by more than double their usual amount - setting them back hundreds of pounds.
One said on social media to say they are "fuming", their post read: "This is certainly not the time for receiving a gas bill with a huge increase per month.
"It really is crazy and not affordable. No wonder people are leaving the island as [it is] so expensive."
Another described the situation as "laughable":
Some customers who were able to contact Island Energy reported being told the price hike was the result of a new billing system.
Others sympathised with the company, saying the blunder was "such bad timing".
However, speaking to ITV News, Island Energy's CEO Jo Cox said she was not aware of any letters being sent out.
She said: "That's the first I've heard of that. We've not been sending any bills this week, so I'm very confused as to why people are getting bills from Isle of Man Energy.
"We've been monitoring our billing system for some time and there have been very limited billing queries... there were a number of queries when we first installed the system, but we've cleared that backlog."
Mrs Cox continued: "It's the first I've heard that people in Jersey have received an Isle of Man bill, so if you have received that, please contact our customer services team and they can look into that for you."
Island Energy can be contacted on 01534 755500 or online at islandenergy.je.
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