If Sark’s lights go off, blame its government | Letter

We will lose over 20,000 per month under the retail price set by Sark's government, so we have announced that we will not be selling electricity after the end of this month, writes David Gordon-Brown, director of Sark Electricity Limited

Thank you for your interesting story about the quirky, car-free island of Sark (Will Sark go dark? Dispute over prices threatens island's electricity supply, 15 November). But there is another, darker, side to this story. The electricity company on Sark was formed in 1947 and remains a small private company with less than four employees. It has been owned and entirely financed by my family for 50 years. In 2007, Sark was forced to remove its original feudal government and change to a fully elected assembly. This has resulted in an unprofessional and seriously dysfunctional government that feels entitled to take control of the electricity supply without paying for it. Over six years, this has cost the company over 500,000 defending itself - almost a year's turnover.

The government has enacted an electricity price control law and selected a commissioner with no prior experience in the position and no accounting qualifications. He has issued an order that sets the retail price 20% below the cost of production. As the government's action has largely exhausted our reserves, we have shown it an independent auditors' report that shows we will lose over 20,000 a month at this retail price and asked it for legal aid to allow us to appeal the price control order. It has refused.

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