Jersey Electricity to spend £120 million on 'Big Upgrade'

Tuesday, 5 November 2024 13:01

Jersey Electricity has planned the biggest network upgrade the island has seen, after announcing a 7.5% rise in household bills.

The 'Big Upgrade' will be the largest-ever improvement to the electric network and will take five years to complete.

JE wants 20,000 households to switch from fossil fuels and get on the grid.

Plans will cost £120 million.

Mark Preece, Chief Operating Officer of Jersey Electricity, says the impact on tariffs will be neutral.

"The additional infrastructure that the Big Upgrade will install is to match the increase in electricity consumption, with the cost of this investment spread across those additional units making the impact neutral.

"That's not to say that tariffs won't change, because of course (of) the wholesale energy markets - whilst they have started to show signs of easing - there is still an element of volatility there that we are keeping a close eye on."

READ: Electricity bills to rise by 7.5% from January 2025

Jersey Electricity wants to:

More than double the annual length of cables laid each year (currently seven kilometres);
Upgrade the low-voltage network;
Add 50 megawatts of new generation capacity;
Reach Net Zero emissions by 2025, leading to a circa 25% increase in peak electricity demand;
Add 20 new substations;
Introduce 30 replaced or new transformers;
And, lay 100 kilometres of cables.

Mark Preece says the updates will help switches to electric heating and transport.

"We expect electricity usage in the island to increase by 75% in the next decade so it's important that we get ahead of that and make sure that infrastructure is in place, ready for when that demand materialises to supply our customers."