Jersey Electricity will be increasing their prices by 7.5% from the start of next year. The tariff increase – which will add around £2 per week to the average domestic electricity bill of £1,400 per year – will come into effect from 1 January 2025. The company say that the increase – which is above the current 5% rate of inflation – is ‘in response to the wholesale energy market which, although showing signs of easing, remains much higher than historic norms’. Jersey Electricity CEO Chris Ambler said: “We remain acutely aware of the rising costs of everyday essentials and the pressures on household budgets. “We encourage any customers with concerns about their electricity bills to contact our Customer Care team. While we understand increases in electricity prices are unwelcome, we have worked hard to shelter customers wherever possible, including continuing to challenge ourselves to drive further efficiencies.” Mr Ambler added: “After the increase comes into effect in January 2025, Jersey’s electricity prices will remain substantially lower than UK prices, which will be around 50% higher than Jersey’s. The Isle of Man and Guernsey’s electricity prices will also be more than 30% higher than Jersey prices from January next year. “Turmoil in the international energy markets and the onset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have contributed to high and volatile wholesale energy prices across Europe and much of the world in recent years. Against this backdrop, we are starting to see signs of a more stable energy environment emerge, albeit with higher levels than historically has been the case. Our strategy of importing clean renewable electricity from France has helped to maintain relatively stable electricity prices, whilst making necessary investment and future-proofing the Island’s electricity network.” At the start of 2024, electricity prices rose by 12%. Check out our energy saving tips

We’re delighted to launch our new Price Comparison website. You can access it via a banner on our website, or by directly visiting prices.je We stopped updating our previous Price Comparison website at the end of last year and have this year been building a new, in-house site, which we soft launched in the summer and is now fully live. Thank you for bearing with us during this transition period. Our new site includes weekly fuel and oil prices, fortnightly grocery prices from all the Island’s major supermarkets, and will also include occasional themed seasonal price comparisons, such as at Christmas, Easter, Pancake Day, and certain awareness days. As ever, our advice is to shop around for the best prices and to vote with your feet if you feel prices at one provider or store are too high. We hope you’ll find our new site to be a useful tool to help you make informed decisions on where to shop, with categories featured ranging from bakery and dairy products, to tinned, dry and frozen goods, as well as gluten free and baby products. We worked with Digital Jersey to develop our new site, which we will now operate and run ourselves, in house. Anthony Dearie, Executive Officer of the Jersey Consumer Council, said: “We’re thrilled to now have our new price comparison site up and running, and we thank consumers for bearing with us during this transition period. “Featuring the prices of almost 100 grocery products at six local supermarket chains, as well as the unleaded and diesel fuel prices for all 25 Jersey garages, prices.je is your one-stop-shop for prices in Jersey. “As with our previous site, we hope that this service will help Islanders to make informed choices about where they shop. By highlighting the, often significant, variances in the cost of everyday products, we hope to encourage consumers in Jersey to think about where they spend their money – and whether the places they ‘usually’ do their shopping really provides them with the best value for money. “We’re very grateful to Digital Jersey for the advice and support that they’ve given us to help us bring this valuable service in-house, at a lower cost to our organisation.’ Sebastian Lawson, Head of Projects at Digital Jersey, said: “We were delighted to work with the Jersey Consumer Council to help them develop a new price comparison service for the Island. “This has been a great example of partnership working between Government ALOs, and the new site, prices.je, can be run and managed by the Council in-house, at a significantly lower cost than their previous price comparison site. “We hope that Islanders will benefit greatly from this new site, and will be able to shop around with ease to ensure that they are always getting the best prices.” Throughout this year, our volunteers have continued going up and down the supermarket aisles every fortnight to gather the latest prices, meaning that our archive of prices won’t have a gap from when our previous site closed to the launch of this new site.   Accessing Prices.je When accessing our new Price Comparison page on a computer, simply type prices.je into your browser (you must type it into your browser, rather than into a Google search window).  Or click here:  Prices.je Alternatively, you can access it via the link on our main website.   If you’re using our new site on your smartphone or tablet, it’ll work most effectively if you use it as a web app on your home screen. Simply type prices.je into an internet browser, and you will see a message pop-up saying ‘Install Prices.je – Add this app to your home screen for easy access and a better experience’. It will then prompt you to press the centre button below the browser (a square with an arrow pointing up out of it). Tab the relevant button below the browser, then scroll down and select the option to ‘Add to Home Screen’. A screen saying ‘Add to Home Screen’ will then appear. Click the ‘Add’ button and Prices.je will then appear on your device as an App, which you can move to the most suitable folder or screen. If you still have our old PriceComparison App installed on your phone, please delete it as we will no longer be updating it. Similarly, if you still have our old price comparison website saved as a favourite on your browser, you can now remove it and replace it with our new site, prices.je. If you have any queries about, or issues with, our new Price Comparison service, please email [email protected]  

We've published the Findings Report of our three-month investigation into higher mortgage rates in Jersey. Jersey's mortgage rates have been consistently higher than those in the UK, sparking concern among consumers and prompting our investigation. At the time of launching our investigation in March 2024, a number of banks were offering local rates at more than 1% higher than the UK equivalent. The gap has closed at the time of writing this report, although can change with very little notice. That said, even the smallest increase in mortgage rates have a significant impact on the total amount repaid, due to the size of the loan and the length of time it takes to be paid off. Following correspondence from a number of Islanders, and a call for more transparency over mortgage rates from the property conveyancing sector, the Jersey Consumer Council sent an open letter on behalf of consumers in Jersey to the six main mortgage lenders in Jersey during March 2024. They were: Royal Bank of Scotland International Barclays Skipton Santander HSBC Lloyds We then conducted a broad investigation into the reasons behind mortgage rates in Jersey being higher than those offered by the same branded banks in the UK. We found this leads to confusion for consumers, who, along with already paying significantly higher prices for property compared to many parts of the UK, struggle to understand why they are being asked to pay up to £20,000 more per £100,000 of loan over the lifetime of a mortgage when borrowing over 25 years. The banks attribute this difference to their status as ring-fenced and separate entities from their UK counterparts. Despite this separation, many of these banks still align with their UK outfit in terms of branding, marketing material, contact details and, most significantly, the offer of Jersey-based mortgage products which track the Bank of England’s base rate, and rates generally which fluctuate with the Bank of England interest rates. The Consumer Council, however, has concluded that the elevated mortgage rates are further influenced by the higher savings rates offered in Jersey, which are designed to attract both local and inward investment. The Council's findings highlight the need for greater transparency from the banking industry to help consumers better understand the differences, and a reassessment by the Government of Jersey on the balance between attracting inward investment and ensuring affordable home ownership for Islanders. Click here to read our report.

The cost of parking in public car parks will be increasing by around seven percent this week. From Wednesday, 1 May the cost of a single unit paycard will increase from its current price of 97p to a new price of £1.04, while a two unit will rise from £1.94 to £2.08, and a four unit from £3.88 to £4.16 from 1 May. Monthly season tickets will rise from £156.66 to £167.96, and a monthly half permit from £78.33 to £83.98. New prices for an eco one unit paycard will cost 52p, a two unit £1.04, and a four unit £2.08. A monthly eco season ticket will cost £83.98 and a half permit £41.99. The Minister for Infrastructure, Constable Andy Jehan, has also confirmed that charges will apply at the new Charles Street Car Park each day (i​ncluding Sundays) between 8am and 10pm. He said that this was a trial to help ensure the car park has capacity for the general public, for Islanders needing spaces and supporting businesses in town, and that these charging hours will be reviewed later this year. The income the Government receives from car parks is used to fund their repair and maintenance and will support road safety initiatives. ​  Current (including GST) From 1 May 2024 (including GST) % Increase 1 Unit Paycard £0.97 £1.04 7.22% 2 Unit Paycard £1.94 £2.08 7.22% 4 Unit Paycard £3.88 £4.16 7.22% Monthly Season Ticket £156.66 £167.96 7.21% Monthly Half Permit £78.33 £83.98 7.21% Eco 1 Unit Paycard £0.49 £0.52 6.12% Eco 2 Unit Paycard £0.98 £1.04 6.12% Eco 4 Unit Paycard £1.96 £2.08 6.12% Eco Monthly Season Ticket £78.33 £83.98 7.21% Eco Monthly Half Permit £39.17 £41.99 7.21%  

Islanders wanting to register their disappointment in the £11.56 ‘goodwill gesture’ offered following last year’s gas outage have until next Friday to complete our online survey. To date, around 400 households have registered with us to express their dissatisfaction in the offer made by Island Energy following the outage in October 2023 – which in some cases left consumers without energy for up to two weeks. Households have now been offered a £11.56 ‘goodwill gesture’ to make up for the disruption – however, numerous customers have told us that this goes nowhere near covering the true expense they experienced. We’re now working with a local lawyer to try and help consumers recover some of the losses they incurred. We’ve been running an online survey, which has now been completed by around 400 households affected by the outage, which occurred on 7 October when a technical fault by Island Energy left around 4,000 Islanders without gas. Had the energy provider been regulated – like in the UK – it would have had to pay £60 for every day a customer went without gas beyond the first 24 hours. Comments from those who’ve completed our online form so far include: “The way they’ve treated us is totally disgusting – we’ve been a lloyal customer for over 30 years and the £11.36 is insulting.” “That offer is insulting. Thankfully the outage was not during a cold period. The fact that the company has no legal obligation to reimburse customers for the outage should not absolve them from a moral responsibility.” “The Consumers are NOT idiots and shouldn't be treated as such! The offer is a total insult.” Before announcing the ‘goodwill gesture’, Island Energy increased the price of gas by 12%, which is about £13.80 for an average family house (in Guernsey it was increased by 8%). Advocate Philip Sinel, Senior Partner at Sinels and Co, has now agreed to work with us and act for Island Energy customers. He said: “Sinels is happy to act on behalf of those consumers affected by last year’s gas outage as, in our view, there has been a clear breach of contract. Losses have occurred, and as a result, the supplier should be liable for those in our view, and we will do our best to recover those losses for consumers.” If you’d like to be included in the action being taken by the Jersey Consumer Council and Sinels, please register below by completing our short online form by Friday, 22 March. You can also email [email protected] to request a paper form. Please ensure that when you fill in the form you include an email address and your Island Energy customer number: REGISTER HERE Our Chairman Carl Walker said: “It’s clear that many Islanders were both inconvenienced, as well as financially affected by the gas outage. Consumers couldn’t heat their homes, cook meals, or even wash in hot water. An offer of £11.56 is nothing short of an insult to its customers by Island Energy.’

We’ve been contacted by lots of you recently about spiralling insurance premiums – both for motor and household – and how they’re affecting you. We’re aware of this issue and how it’s affecting Islanders, as it is yet another cost-of-living increase for consumers to contend with. This isn't just a Jersey situation though, it's UK-wide, with premiums increasing across the board since 2022. In January 2022, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) introduced some new rules to stop insurers offering better deals to new customers. While this is good for those customers sticking with their ongoing policy, the rules don’t stop or cap the rise in policy costs, so in that respect it’s not good at all.  As a result, many Islanders have seen big increases in their premiums this year. Unfortunately, without a cap on the level of premium paid, the price of cover will fluctuate to reflect a range of factors, such as inflation, building costs, and setting claims due to storms, floods, and the like. The average premium for comprehensive cover on a motor vehicle in the UK has gone up by 58% from this time in 2022, according to Which? Magazine's March 2024 edition. In Jersey, your driver profile will include factors such as your age and your driving record, which influences what you pay for car insurance. Younger drivers have been hit more than most, with those aged under 24 being forced to pay out for premiums into the thousands in some cases. These premium increases will be affected by rising car repair costs. And disaster-related claims are also a significant reason why car insurance rates are surging for many drivers. We're not sure what the answer is. All we can advise is to keep shopping around, try to haggle where you can, and look out for tips using national consumer news organisations such as Which? magazine and Money Saving Expert. Their pages relate to the UK, but you can often pick up tips that are relevant to use in Jersey. You can also check out some of our recent stories on insurance: Which motor insurance providers currently provide cover in Jersey? (consumercouncil.je) Home Insurance (consumercouncil.je) Car Insurance (consumercouncil.je)