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And it has also revealed that the island has one of the most reliable electricity supplies in the world.  The average customer minutes lost, which is the industry’s measure of reliability, was just 15 in 2004/5.

The last published statistic for the UK, which in the past has had one of the most reliable supplies in Europe (Source: European Commission), gave an average of 81 minutes lost per customer in 2003/4 (Source: OFGEM).

Guernsey Electricity managing director Ian Watson said he was delighted with the company’s performance.

‘Providing the island with a secure and reliable supply is our primary objective, and this level of reliability puts us amongst the best in the world.  Our challenge now is to sustain this position,’ he said.

‘We have an excellent record on customer service, but as these latest statistics show we have not become complacent.  Guernsey Electricity staff are continuing to provide an excellent service, and they are a credit to the company.

Guernsey Electricity service standards are agreed with the OUR and provide a benchmark for the company’s performance.  Compared to the previous 12 months, the company showed improvements in three areas, and fared only slightly worse in one.

More than 16,000 events were covered by guaranteed standards in 2004/5, but only 16 customers received compensation.

Of these, six payouts were made after staff turned up to a customer’s premises more than 30 minutes late.  However this was out of a total of more than 10,000 appointments during the year, of which 99.69% were kept on time.

The only area where the company fared slightly worse than in 2003/4 was the proportion of cable faults repaired within three hours.  This fell from 96% in 2003/4 to 94.75% in 2004/5, but was still above the standard target of 90%.