What does a tariff do for me?
When you pay your bill, it’s easy to think of it as just a cost. In reality, it’s a contribution to Guernsey’s modern life, as our electricity “infrastructure” is the physical backbone to all island life – a cup of tea, super-fast WiFi, and treating patients in the hospital.
- The subsea cable imports clean energy from Europe
- The Vale Power Station gives us a secure backup and top-up
- Hundreds of substations and transformers convert our power
- Over 1,000 km of underground cabling quietly shuttle power to our homes
This invisible ecosystem and skilled people, from hands-on technicians to those overseeing the full picture, makes sure that when a local business opens its doors in Castel or a kettle boils in St Martins, power gets there – unfailing, secure and safe.
You’re paying for a 24/7, uninterrupted service
The true hallmark of what your tariff pays for is the network’s silence. You’ve heard that life happens when you’re busy doing other things. And that means you’re also paying for a 24/7 service on a daily grind in the background, quietly making sure you’ve got what you need to keep your busy life flowing.
In fact, electricity is one of the only manmade services we “see” when it stops (same goes for Wi‑Fi – which is powered by electricity too). Those rare moments of darkness reveal the scale behind what we take as normal – and “normality” equals the dedication of 200+ local staff working around the clock to make sure those offline moments are few and far between.
Your tariff is the subscription that keeps this silent magic happening every second of every day.
The profit mystery
Maybe you’ve seen headlines around Guernsey Electricity’s profits. In most places, that money would be wired to distant shareholders and investors. In a different world, we might be answering to a private equity firm in London, or a global investment group in New York. We’d need to ship a slice of the money you pay – also known as dividends – off island each quarter to keep those far off voices happy.
But not here.
Because our shareholder is the States of Guernsey*, we collectively own our energy company. 100% of the profits stay in Guernsey, and get reinvested back into the system that brings life to our island.
No offshore investors take a cut. Instead all the income that we generate is “composted” back into the electricity meter in your home, the cables linking your property to the wider grid, the substation at the end of your road, the transformer lowering the voltage for you, the underground network connecting you to the European grid, and topping up your electricity from the Vale Power Station.
In fact, in 2024 we spent around £12 million on upgrading this infrastructure to help keep our grid on track.
*managed by the States Trading Supervisory Board (STSB)
Supporting our own
“Keeping it in the family” also means supporting the people who live next door. Every time you pay an electricity bill, you’re also helping provide high‑skilled employment for many islanders.
These are the engineers, technicians, project managers, electricians, support staff, and a mix of other skills and personalities who are all part of the community bringing life to life. These aren’t faceless offshore executives; these are over 200 real people who help keep the lights on. When they get paid, much of that money also goes straight back into our local shops, restaurants, trades and charities, helping circulate more of your electricity bill back into our island community.
When do electricity tariffs change?
Any tariff changes happen on 1st July. We send an application to the States Trading Supervisory Board (STSB) and once this has been reviewed, we’ll communicate what the new tariffs will be.
How can I help cut costs?
Would you be interested in helping reduce future tariff increases by several million? Current predictions say we’re on track to hit a ‘maximum demand’ of 157MW by 2050. At the moment, our maximum demand peak was 94MW back in January 2024.
Our aim is to try and keep that maximum demand at 125MW, which is predicted to save over £100 million on future tariff increases.
It’s a difficult task as we need the community to come together to help keep the costs down. But the easy part is it means moving some of your electricity use where possible off-peak.
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