Crogga’s latest two-page advertisement in the Examiner (last week) raises again some important and contentious points.

Crogga claim that they will be able to provide ‘energy independence for the Isle of Man’.

They won’t, because they can’t.

I have to point again to the bare facts that government will be bringing a second interconnector cable through which we will import electricity from carbon neutral sources.

The gas powered CCGT power plant at Pulrose will cease to burn gas.

Gas-powered central heating systems will not be permitted to be part of any new-build housing after 2025.

Gas will therefore be only a partial and reducing part of the energy mix and to suggest it could be otherwise is misleading.

Crogga’s latest also repeats the claim that ‘Crogga Limited has guaranteed to cap prices for domestic gas sales to the Isle of Man at 89//Therm throughout the life of the field’.

It was only a few days before this that we discovered in the small print of their wraparound with the Courier that this promise in fact applies only ‘up to 5%’ of total output.

There is so much wriggle room around this that the comprehensive ‘guarantee to cap prices’ at this level might just be giving a false sense of financial benefit to Isle of Man consumers.

Any gas extracted will have to be transported to the UK for processing before entering the wholesale gas supply, where prices are set by the wholesale market.

I would really like Crogga to explain how they intend identifying ‘their’ gas out of the mix and apply differential pricing.

P. Christian

Isle of Man Friends of the Earth

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