The Managing Director of Sark Electricity has pressed Crown Advocate Hodgett for confirmation of Chief Pleas’s access to funds for the compulsory purchase of Sark Electricity.
Alan Witney-Price argues that Chief Pleas currently lacks the necessary cash and has not even negotiated the loan terms with Guernsey:
“Chief Pleas does not currently have access to the funds required to settle this transaction at an independent value applied by the valuer in accordance with the law. Specifically, Chief Pleas has yet to even negotiate the terms of the loan upon which they are relying to settle the independent valuation.”
He warns this situation puts Sark at risk of “cash flow insolvency” and could force unfavourable decisions on both Sark and Guernsey, potentially leading to SEL claiming public assets:
“By having a value assigned to the business Chief Pleas will have placed themselves in a position whereby they may well be forced to sign a loan agreement with the States of Guernsey under duress and under such terms which are not in the interest of Sark purely to settle the independent value set in accordance with the law.”
Mr Witney-Price continued: “The same can now be said of Guernsey States Members; they are conceivably also under duress to implement a loan agreement that is not in the interest of Guernsey residents simply to support the questionable decisions of Chief Pleas.
“The likelihood of challenge and the consequences for both island are significant.”
He goes on to question Sark’s good governance and seeks confirmation of alternative funding:
“The position that Chief Pleas has placed Sark into raises very real questions as to the effective good governance of the Island of Sark and we will be raising this matter with the MoJ and residents in the coming days.”
You can read the letter sent to Crown Advocate Hodgett in full below:
A brief recap:
Around the same time, it was reported that SEL’s owner, Alan Witney-Price, had an agreement to sell the company to Island Power, with the deal expected to finalise in July 2025.
However, by June 2025, the private sale to Island Power collapsed, with Witney-Price blaming Chief Pleas’ actions. Consequently, Chief Pleas formally voted to proceed with the compulsory purchase of SEL in July 2025.
IslandPower has since publicly criticised Chief Pleas’ compulsory purchase plans, suggesting a different approach for Sark’s energy future.
Earlier this week, Mr Witney-Price called for a political parlay over the sale and purchase, and proposed a new settlement to end the long-running dispute with Chief Pleas.