Redacted

The Chief Minister had no written communications with Manx Gas, aside from letters he was copied into.

This is according to the response received to our Freedom of Information request.

Gef submitted an FoI on January 10 asking for all written communications, in letter or email form, between Alf Cannan and Manx Gas from the time he took office on October 12 2021.

In that time, customers saw an increase in their bills of 27.5% after Tynwald agreed to a recommendation to increase the tariff cap.

In response to our FoI, the Cabinet Office released two letters, one from Manx Gas to Phil King, the CEO of Manx Utilities on December 23 and one in return to Jo Cox, the CEO of Manx Gas’ owner the Islands Energy Group.

Both of the letters are heavily redacted, so it is far from clear what exactly was being discussed between Manx Gas and Manx Utilities. However, the unredacted section of the first letter, from Ms Cox to Mr King, shows her outline the increase in the cost of gas and frustration with CURA’s process and how long it takes the regulator to make a decision. 

She said: ‘We request your urgent attention in this matter, as this situation cannot be sustained unless a resolution is found quickly. We will be writing to CURA to highlight that their analysis of the situation is incorrect, but given the timescales and CURA’s process, we cannot now rely on them changing their decision in a timely manner.

‘We ask that you work with us to maintain supply to the Isle of Man during these unique market conditions and recognise that Manx Gas are in this situation as a result of the limitations of the consultation process for regulation. We also recognise that CURA is trying to protect customers, especially vulnerable customers: however, the solution suggested is not sustainable.’

Independent Regulator

In his response, Mr King said many of the issues raised in Ms Cox’s letter were between Manx Gas and CURA so he was ‘unable to respond to these comments in detail’. He added: ‘However, I note that CURA is a duly appointed independent regulator and it is usual for regulators to consider the interests of multiple stakeholders (often conflicting) in an impartial manner, free from political influence.’

We then have effectively two-and-a-half pages of the rest of the letter which are blacked. The only exception to this, other than where the letter is signed and who was copied in (Mr Cannan and Manx Utilities chair Rob Callister MHK), is one paragraph where Mr King restated the position between Manx Utilities and Manx Gas. He said: ‘Manx Utilities purchases natural gas for Manx Gas and the costs of providing this gas to Manx Gas is recharged to Manx Gas under the terms of these letters. This includes recharging Manx Gas for the purchase cost of the gas at the rates paid by Manx Utilities to its supplier without a margin or discount being applied.’

Review

The Cabinet Office said much of the information was exempt under Section 26 of the FoI Act. 

Under Section 26 of the Act, which covers Information provided in confidence, information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it was obtained by the public authority from another person (including another public authority); and

(b) the disclosure of the information to the public by the public authority holding it would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by that or any other person.

As a result of this, we have asked the Cabinet Office to review this decision saying that there is an overwhelming public interest in the full disclosure of all discussions between the Chief Minister and the island’s monopoly gas supplier. We believe this is particularly important at a time when there is an energy crisis going on, prices are spiralling and Tynwald is about to hand over any control it has to prevent further increases to an independent regulator. 

You can read our FoI response in full below.