New MD hopes for power price deal with the regulator

Monday 25th October 2010, 1:00PM BST.

Alan Bates, the new managing director of Guernsey Electricity, in the generator room. (Picture by Tom Tardif, 1043031)

GUERNSEY Electricity’s new managing director is hoping for a price control decision that will allow the utility to achieve its capital expenditure plan.

The Office of Utility Regulation is responsible for setting prices but relations between the OUR and the company have been fraught in the past.

Former managing director Ian Watson said in July that Guernsey Electricity was not able to make enough money to fund improvements because the OUR set prices artificially low and that stored up serious issues for the future.

However, Alan Bates (pictured), who has taken over from Mr Watson, said the company was taking a pragmatic and productive approach with the OUR.