Island to prepare early for energy price rises

Senior ministers are taking steps to help the Isle of Man start preparing early for the potential impact of energy price rises in the wake of the the war in Iran, the chief minister has said.

Alfred Cannan has called an extraordinary meeting of the Economic National Strategy Board to assess the implications of the conflict on the island's economy.

Concerns have been raised that the US military action could see the price of energy supplies, including oil, continue to soar.

The meeting would help ministers "understand our resilience, look at the supply chains, and then start to gather the data" about the impact on business and the community, he said.

The meeting will also bring together senior civil servants and representatives of Manx Utilities (MU).

Among the things being assessed would be looking at how long MU's forward purchasing would last and the impact of purchasing gas, to fire the island's main power station, at increased prices in future.

The authority last week announced a below inflation 1.5% rise in electricity bills from April.

Cannan said the government had "learned our lessons" from the knock-on effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, which had shown a need to "start getting access to data at an early stage".

The government previously capped electricity bills on the island and offered payments to the vulnerable after the wholesale price of gas soared in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

He said while there was no immediate threat on a broader basis yet, there was a "need to brace ourselves" for "potential increases at the pumps in terms of our direct supply of fuels".

Gathering the data would put ministers in a position to understand what the government might need to do to "balance the equation to ensure that we protect jobs, that we protect the economy, that we protect people's lives", he said.

However, Cannan also warned against any firms profiteering in the face of rising prices.

"I expect there to be significant rises, that's understandable. I also expect companies to be able to justify those rises," he added.

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