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Island Energy's £11.56 compensation for the gas outage has been branded "nothing short of an insult" by the Chair of a consumer advocacy group which has launched a campaign for a better deal for customers.
The Jersey Consumer Council has created a survey to assess how Island Energy customers – many of whom were left unable to cook or take a warm shower for days – were impacted by the islandwide gas outage in October.
The Consumer Council's Chair, Carl Walker said: "We already know of islanders who went without hot water, could not cook hot meals at home and could turn on their heating during the outage, so taking three months to come up with an offer of £11.56 is nothing short of an insult to its customers by Island Energy.
“We will now work on behalf of all those affected to try and secure a better deal for them – and everything and anything is on the table at this stage.
"Once we know how many islanders we will be representing, we shall choose the best course of action and do our very best.”
The survey asks customers how long they were cut off for, which services were affected, how much extra expense they incurred, and if they are satisfied with the utility company's goodwill payment, among other things.
The payment relates to a gas outage which began on 7 October 2022 – when around 4,000 customers found themselves without gas, including cafés and restaurants who claimed to have made significant losses, some amounting to more than £10,000.
Compensation for commercial customers is yet to be worked out, but domestic gas customers were last week promised the "goodwill" payment of less than £12.
Island Energy said this payment for households is reflective of a single month's standing charge, and will be made in the form of credit to each gas customer’s account, applied next month.
The announcement came after months of speculation about the compensation amount – but little more than a week after the utility company announced that prices would be going up for Jersey customers by 12% this year.
The Jersey Consumer Council's survey is available online HERE.
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