Thank you for your interesting story about the quirky, car-free island of Sark (Will Sark go dark? Dispute over prices threatens island’s electricity supply, 15 November). But there is another, darker, side to this story. The electricity company on Sark was formed in 1947 and remains a small private company with less than four employees. It has been owned and entirely financed by my family for 50 years. In 2007, Sark was forced to remove its original feudal government and change to a fully elected assembly. This has resulted in an unprofessional and seriously dysfunctional government that feels entitled to take control of the electricity supply without paying for it. Over six years, this has cost the company over £500,000 defending itself – almost a year’s turnover.
The government has enacted an electricity price control law and selected a commissioner with no prior experience in the position and no accounting qualifications. He has issued an order that sets the retail price 20% below the cost of production. As the government’s action has largely exhausted our reserves, we have shown it an independent auditors’ report that shows we will lose over £20,000 a month at this retail price and asked it for legal aid to allow us to appeal the price control order. It has refused.
As a director, it is inappropriate for me to continue selling a product that will drive the company to bankruptcy, so we have announced that we will not be selling electricity after the end of this month. The government has refused to accept that an electricity supply is important and refused every request by the company for a legal agreement. As a result, it is putting its electricity supplier out of business, but has no supply agreement it can enforce to guarantee the supply of an essential utility. This is an unusual case of a government shooting the entire electorate in the foot.
David Gordon-Brown
Director, Sark Electricity Limited
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