Jersey businesses and homes have been hit by an island-wide gas supply outage caused by a ‘software issue’.
[updated 11th October 2023 16:30]
The Jersey gas supply was cut on Saturday, leaving many islanders without hot water and causing a big challenge for the hospitality industry who currently rely on gas.
Island Energy (IE) have said: “We have isolated and fixed the issue at our plant in Jersey. A software error triggered the safety procedure which shut down the plant, which it will do if there is any risk to the network, ensuring that we are safe. This issue has now been fixed and we are working on the restoration plan to get the gas network back up.”
IE expects to have the gas supply restored for all commercial and domestic customers by Sunday 15th October
IE had hoped to restore the gas network on 10th October, but this target has now moved to 12th October. IE said: “Our plant has been turned on and we are monitoring progress, for 24 hours. Should this go as planned we will begin the reinstatement of supply from Thursday.
“As we have said this is a staged process so customers will be informed when it’s safe to turn on their gas. There are a number of customers who require a visit from an engineer, these will start on Thursday.”
Although IE plan to restore services from Thursday 12th October, this will be for commercial and priority customers, particularly those who are vulnerable. IE expects to have the gas supply restored for all commercial and domestic customers by Sunday 15th October.
IE have instructed: “Please do not turn on your gas until you have been told by us that it is safe to do so. We have clear instructions of how to restore the gas to your home and we will be communicating with you via:
- A letter directly to your home
- Social media (Facebook and X formerly twitter)
- Their website
- Local media
Other local utility companies such as Jersey Electricity and Jersey Telecom are able to contact customers by email. IE doesn’t have email addresses for all their clients, so are unable to do this – this is why they have had to turn to social media even though elderly residents may not use it.
IE has 4,500 customers across Jersey with just under half of these using gas for heating and hot water. Approximately 1,200 of these have a combination boiler which means they won’t have any alternative means of getting hot water. They have 400 commercial customers, using gas for a mix of hot water and cooking.
Jersey Government says that all government buildings, including schools, hospitals, sports facilities (except Aquasplash) and care homes, will remain open as normal. There may be minor but manageable disruption to hot water and heating supplies in some buildings.
Jersey’s Government have opened Les Quennevais Sports Centre for non-members to have access to hot water and showers.
This current outage adds to the current Island Energy issues of poor service, billing, increasing prices and a declining customer base.
Island Energy customers can call their Glasgow-based customer service line on 01534 755500.
