Lights out in Jersey again

Jersey has had another electricity outage, the third in nine months. Lights went off across the island from about 23.30 on Sunday until 02.00 Monday morning.

The breakdown would have been more serious had it happened at a peak time during the week.

Engineers have blamed the outage on faults in the cable with France. Jersey imports 90 per cent of its electrical supply from France compared with only 45 per cent in 1990. The remaining 10 per cent is generated locally in Jersey by a plant in the south of the island, which is boosted by the new incinerator complex.

The policy of buying electricity from France was devised to reduce the island’s carbon emissions. Jersey can boast that these are down 30 per cent since 1990 while consumption over the same period is up 50 per cent. However the cost has been to make the island almost totally dependent on its nuclear neighbour France.

On Monday Jersey residents were being asked to use electricity sparingly and some of the peak supplies were suspended.

This breakdown follows two others, one in March and two last year.