THE row between Guernsey Electricity and the regulator has deepened.

After recently announcing losses of £834,000 for the year ending 31 March, the States-owned utility said the actions of the Office of Utility Regulation, which controls prices and which decided there was to be no increase for 2008/2009, was threatening the company’s future.

The OUR responded by stating that Guernsey Electricity had not asked for the price control to be re-opened.

But GE has maintained that it did ask for a price increase during 2008 and in a new twist, managing director Ian Watson has released extracts from letters between him and the regulator which, he said, proved it.

That was denied strongly by the OUR, which said the extracts were taken out of context and had nothing to do with reopening the price control – which was set in 2007.

Mr Watson said he first approached the OUR to discuss the issue on 11 June 2008.

In that letter he wrote: ‘The board of directors is strongly of the view that action must be taken to correct losses to the levels of profit expected by our shareholder and to assist customers by phasing in the effect of the inevitable price increases.’