FOCUS: Jersey's energy resilience undermined by lack of joined-up working

Tuesday 04 June 2024

A new report has warned that Jersey's resilience in the energy sector is being compromised by a lack of joined-up working across Government – and has called for improved collaboration with energy providers.

The report, published yesterday by Comptroller and Auditor General Lynn Pamment, said that that roles and responsibilities regarding energy matters are not clear enough.

Unclear roles and responsibilities

The 'Critical Infrastructure Resilience - Energy' report found that "there is no definition of critical national infrastructure in the island and no cross-cutting infrastructure policy".

Pictured: A new report has warned that Jersey's resilience in the energy sector is being compromised by a lack of a coherent, joined-up approach across Government.

Ms Pamment said there is no single person, team or department responsible for co-ordinating energy matters, and no requirement for relevant teams to work effectively together.

She therefore called for clear action plans balancing short-term risk management with future energy policy needs.

Recent critical incidents

The Comptroller and Auditor General also said the Government's approach to understanding and securing energy resilience has been severely tested by recent critical incidents.

This included the Covid-19 pandemic, Haut du Mont explosion, last year's floods, and the gas outage last October.

While the Government has carried out debriefings after each incident to learn from them, Ms Pamment said "urgent action is required" to create a robust community risk register for energy risks and build effective relationships between the Government and energy providers.

Pictured: Comptroller and Auditor General Lynn Pamment.

She said: "Critical incidents in recent years should be the catalyst for the Government and its partners to address weaknesses in managing energy resilience."

Key recommendations from the report include reviewing actions from previous incident reports, engaging partners through the Jersey Resilience Forum, ensuring robust emergency plans for key sites like La Collette, and aligning energy provision laws with resilience standards.

Government response and future plans 

In response, Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan acknowledged more work is needed on resilience and said the Government is improving resilience laws and the risk register.

He explained: “Ministers welcome this review of critical energy infrastructure, which was carried out in a collaborative way and, importantly, involved all our Island energy providers.

“Storm Ciarán, the Haut du Mont disaster and the other major incidents of the last two years have shown how resilient Jersey is, and how effective we are when we all work together.

"But the new Government is the first to acknowledge there is still more to be done on our resilience in the current challenging global environment, and we are already working to put the necessary measures in place."

Pictured: Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan said the Government is improving resilience laws and the risk register.

Constable Jehan added: “The Government is working to improve our resilience laws and community risk register, and we will look carefully at how we can best address the other potential improvements highlighted in the Comptroller and Auditor General’s review.

“We’ll continue to work closely with our local energy providers, and I expect them to respond to this review practically and promptly, especially in terms of resilience planning.”