Customers get £11.56 'goodwill' compensation after gas outage in Jersey

One month’s standing charge for a customer is around £11.56 Credit: ITV Channel

Island Energy has announced that people in Jersey who experienced disruption to their gas supply in October last year will be receiving a refund as a "gesture of goodwill".

It comes after thousands of residents and businesses were left without gas supply for weeks following an island-wide fault on Saturday 7 October 2023.

A payment of £11.56 will be made in the form of a credit to each customer’s account and will be applied in February 2024.

Island Energy said it was a software issue that caused the gas plant to shut down, with the company's Chief Executive Jo Cox adding the odds of this happening were "like someone winning the EuroMillions".

Ms Cox said: "We have reviewed the best way to make a payment to all our customers in light of the service outage we experienced in October.

"This outage was caused by a process in our plant detecting a software error in one of our systems. In this situation, the safety process enforces a shutdown and stops our supply."

She added: “As gas systems are relatively complex, they cannot be immediately reinstated, and proper processes must be followed to reintroduce supply.

"As a result of this supply outage, Island Energy will be refunding the standing charge for October to customers as a gesture of goodwill."

Business and commercial customers have been reviewed by Island Energy on a case-by-case basis.

Island Energy say whilst all customers will receive the credit on their account, most businesses have insurance for this type of disruption and it has been proven that this is typically the best route to recover what was lost.

Chief Executive of Island Energy added: “As there is no requirement for energy companies in Jersey to have pre-agreed compensation schemes in place we have been working with our insurance company to ascertain whether we were covered for this event.

"Unfortunately, as it was a total loss of supply due to circumstances out of our control, the insurance company has confirmed that it will not be covered.

"We recognise that this is disappointing for our customers and are therefore committed to refunding the entire month of October, rather than just the period of the outage.”

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