An independent valuer has been appointed to move forward with plans for the compulsory purchase of Sark Electricity Limited.
The utility and Sark’s government have agreed to the appointment of Begbies Traynor.
This means the court process can continue with a spokesperson for Chief Pleas saying there is likely to be a court hearing in January to determine the “method and basis of the valuation” and the valuation will be announced following that.
“Chief Pleas and Sark Electricity Limited have both consented to the appointment of Begbies Traynor as the valuer for the purposes of the Compulsory Purchase legislation,” confirmed the spokesperson.
“This follows an application from Chief Pleas on 31 October to the Court of the Seneschal for the appointment of the valuer. The method and basis of the valuation will now be decided at a hearing on date to be fixed by the Court, likely to be some time next month.
Chief Pleas has been working on the compulsory purchase of SEL for some time with talk about “nationalising electricity” since at least 2021.
Efforts stepped up after Guernsey’s States agreed to lend Sark’s government £1.5m towards the purchase of SEL earlier this year.
SEL’s owner does not want to sell to Chief Pleas, either through compulsory purchase or privately, having previously suggested the government can’t afford to buy or run the utility.
Alan Witney-Price has previously said he wants to sell to an organisation called IslandPower. A deal between the two fell through early this year with Mr Witney Price accusing Chief Pleas of blocking the sale.
IslandPower is still keen to buy SEL – having had contact with Chief Pleas as recently as November.
The private firm shared details of its “fully costed business plan”, its relationship with global energy firm Aggreko, and how IslandPower could work with Chief Pleas, with Conseillers.
“It explains how the proposed community partnership purchase of Sark Electricity Ltd and Sark Electricity Holdings would transition into Sark Energy Unlimited (SEU), and highlights how SEU’s ‘Energy as a Service’ model is expressly designed to eliminate unnecessary costs: avoidable legal and consultancy spend and inefficient fuel use, so that long-term savings flow directly to Sark’s energy users, while maintaining Sark’s independence and identity and enabling constructive collaboration and partnership with the wider Bailiwick, United Kingdom, The European Union and Commonwealth on law, finance, regulation, technology, support, system resilience and an accelerated, equitable energy transition,” explained a spokesperson.
The situation currently remains that Chief Pleas is pursuing the compulsory purchase of SEL, with further updates expected in the new year.
An earlier version of this article contained some inaccuracies which have been removed. Express apologises to Sark Electricity Limited for these errors.