Alderney fuel duty relief proposed as prices rise

An Alderney politician has called for a relief on fuel duty in a bid to reduce the impact of rising fuel prices on the island.

Alderney States Member Alex Snowdon said he wanted the island's government to explore a relief on the current duty paid on fuel imports.

On Monday, the price of unleaded fuel in Alderney was £2.30 per litre, and diesel was £2.52, making it one of the most expensive places to buy petrol in the British Isles.

Dave Cranwell, who owns Dave's Little Garage in Alderney, believes conflict in the Middle East has "completely affected" his prices, and said: "It is the highest I've ever known it and we have no control over it."

The RAC Fuel Watch lists the highest unleaded price in the UK as £1.82 for unleaded and £2 for diesel.

The Head of Policy at the RAC, Simon Williams, described petrol prices in Alderney as "incredibly high".

Snowdon said: "We normally follow the fuel duty increases the States of Guernsey do. However, the States of Alderney could, if minded to do so, set a lower fuel duty."

He added that the States of Alderney collected £465,000 in fuel duty last year.

In Guernsey and Alderney, the rate of fuel duty is currently 90.5p per litre, higher than in the UK (52.95p) and in Jersey (64p).

The States member added: "We need to see how bad this gets, and if it does get really, really bad, then there may be a question about how much income support there is for people that are really struggling on the island."

Alexandra Rotaru, from The Blonde Hedgehog Hotel, said she expected to feel the effects of the high prices.

"It does worry everybody because if expenses go up all businesses will be affected, and it might even be the end for some of the small businesses here," she said.

"It's quite scary from a business point of view and a personal point of view."

Alderney Electricity is the main wholesaler for the island's fuel, which is shipped from the UK via Guernsey.

It is then distributed to the two petrol garages in the island.

Chris MacGregor, managing director of Alderney Electricity, said it was now paying 50% more to their fuel supplier than they were in January.

He said: "We are trying our very best to become more effective and efficient as a business so that we can bring in more revenue outside the fuel sales and actually keep the fuel prices as low as we possibly can."

MacGregor wants Alderney to accelerate its transition to renewable energy to avoid its reliance on oil.

He said: "The conflict in the Middle East has shown us very starkly over the past couple of weeks quite how vulnerable we are as an island to those global oil shocks.

"For our own reliability and self-sufficiency, and to reduce that vulnerability, we need to move to renewables."

Guernsey Post, which runs the postal service in Alderney, has already begun moving to electric vehicles with four of its six vehicles in Alderney Post already electric.

Niall Mc Swiggan, chief financial officer at Guernsey Post, said: "The cost-benefit in Alderney has already been realised.

"Because the price of diesel is so high, the Alderney vehicles' payback period has been accelerated."

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