It was announced earlier this week that Sark Electricity had been purchased by a former resident of the island, Alan Jackson. It came after the death of former Managing Director David Gordon-Brown, who had been running the business for years.
Pictured: Mr Jackson said wind and solar would be top priorities for the new SEL.
But recently he had been at loggerheads with the island’s Electricity Price Control Commissioner, after he tried to raise the prices to the highest in Europe. All signs were pointing toward another court battle, but that may have been resolved by the purchase.
The hearing in the Seneschal court for SEL against the PCC has been adjourned until the 20th of March by agreement between the parties.
— Sark Electricity User Group (@SarkElectricity) March 11, 2020
The SEUG spokesperson said Mr Jackson had spoken for nearly an hour and a half at the meeting last night, which was announced just before the purchase, and was attended by upwards of 100 people.
“He talked the talk, and now he has got to walk the walk,” the spokesperson said, “Mr Jackson went into some detail about the financial hit he has taken, and described legal debts of £225,000, and £35,000 of accountancy debts.
“He has a green vision for Sark, something that is long overdue for the island. We as a group are cautiously optimistic, but Sark Electricity will need some serious medicine to get it back on its feet.”
Pictured: In December 2018, Sark’s power was on the cusp of being switched off as a dispute reached its climax. The island had brought in a number of generators to try and prepare.
Because of the uncertainty Sark has been facing for the last 24 months, some islanders are now looking at setting their own generators up and going off grid. Mr Jackson reportedly urged people not to do this at the meeting, but an idea was raised to allow people to put green energy back into the grid.
In advance of this evening’s meeting, we’ve emailed Alan Jackson some questions for answering during the meeting.https://t.co/Ik7YW8QhK8
— Sark Electricity User Group (@SarkElectricity) March 11, 2020
The spokesperson added that the purchase of SEL came as a surprise to everyone, and now the island was heading into uncharted waters.
“One thing that did give us hope was that, despite Sark Electricity being a private company, Mr Jackson said he would open his accounts to scrutiny from the island’s Price Control Commissioner. That is really good news.”
Pictured top: Sark Electricity has been purchased from the Gordon-Brown family.