Every Guernsey home to get new electricity meter

Guernsey Electricity has announced it will install new interactive electricity meters in every house on the island across the next two to four years.

The new meters will be controllable via an app and will start to be installed in customers' home's later this year.

The utility's CEO Alan Bates said the meters should provide more accurate bills and help customers save money. "By the end of this decade, we really want to be in a position where people have a much more transparent view of how their pricing is made up."

Customers will also be able to pay their bills, look at their own power consumption, and see when electricity may be cheaper for them to use.

"If there's an abundance of electricity in France, too much wind, too much solar, we can actually give that signal and say this is a great afternoon to do your washing or charge your car," said Bates.

Alongside plans to install new meters in customers home's, the company is also reviewing its tariff structure.

Guernsey Electricity blamed 10 years of low tariff increases, recent pressures caused by the war in Ukraine and high inflation for the need to review tariffs.

"The 10 years of no underlying tariff increases put us on the back foot. It means we've had to take on some significant debt into the company," said Bates.

In 2023, politicians approved the island's electricity strategy, which included a 30-year funding model for Guernsey Electricity.

Bates said: "Over the 30‑year model, the average tariff increase comes out less than the RPI assumption. The problem is the first 10 years don't look so pretty for customers.

"We want to move away from a one‑size‑fits‑all approach. Your bill should really represent not just how much electricity you use, but how much strain you put on the network.

"If we've got the same set of tariffs in 10 years' time, we've probably got it wrong."

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