A longstanding Guernsey Electricity employee has been appointed to the position of Chief Financial Officer after 35 years with the firm.
Karl Brouard started as an apprentice electrician in 1983 and continued his training with Guernsey Electricity, achieving chartered status as an electrical engineer. This also included a spell working part-time as a lecturer in electrical and electronic principles to BTEC students at the College of Further Education.
He went on to become a chartered accountant in the local finance sector having completed his accountancy training with PricewaterhouseCoopers, before returning to Guernsey Electricity in 2004 and has fulfilled a number of roles including Regulatory Manager and Head of Finance and Procurement. Mr Brouard brings extensive expertise and valuable industry experience in his new role.
Alan Bates, Chief Executive Officer, paid tribute to Karl’s commitment and knowledge: “I am genuinely delighted by the loyalty and dedication shown by Karl over all these years. By starting with us originally in the power station, he has developed an in-depth understanding and knowledge of many aspects of our business and this appointment also illustrates the career paths that are possible within the company.
“In recent years, Karl has played a key part in regulatory and financial functions for Guernsey Electricity and brings relevant and hands on industry knowledge to the role at an important time.”
As well as developing the company’s future financial strategy, Mr Brouard will be working closely with the States of Guernsey and financial bodies to ensure that the company develops a pathway to allow Guernsey to meet its climate change aims and specifically the 2020 Energy Policy targets.
Specifically, the company will be addressing the tariff structure to bring it in line with customers’ behaviours and demands. This will include restructuring to reflect costs transparently, rebalancing to align its rates with what it costs to generate or import electricity and evolve them to ensure they are fit for the future.
Mr Brouard said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Guernsey Electricity and am particularly grateful to have been offered the training and career development opportunities since starting as an apprentice. This has provided me with an incredibly interesting and fulfilling career path and I have benefited greatly by working with some very talented and dedicated colleagues in both engineering and corporate service areas of the business. I am looking forward to using my experience in helping us produce tariffs that are fit for the future and also fair for all of our customers. The restructure, rebalancing and evolution of electricity tariffs are an absolutely critical step for the Island to meet the fast pace of electrification that we are seeing.”
