There was a time
when somebody wanted
to tarmac roads and
the street, lights,
and thought it'd be
wonderful for us.
But that's not the way that
the local people think.
They've lived on the island for
450 years, manage very nicely.
We don't really need it.
The island of Sark in
the English Channel
is a place where
time flows slowly.
Its fewer than 500
inhabitants still
live a semi-feudal existence.
But commercial interests
have forced the island
to open itself up and to
move into the 21st century.
I'd heard the island was
facing the risk of a power
shutdown because of a standoff
between a monopolistic
electricity company
and a government
that some said wasn't as
democratic as it professed
to be.
So I'd come to Sark to
find out what was going on.
It's a very long-standing issue.
It goes back to 1947,
to just after the war,
when a guy called Malcolm
Robson came along and offered
to supply the island with
electricity, which is obviously
a need.
So it was then privately owned.
It was his own
private investment.
And he established the company.
What then happened
subsequently is
that's the arrangement
that's carried on
without any regulation.
And then Sark finds itself over
a barrel having two choices.
You either buy electricity
off this gentleman,
or you generate your own,
which was also expensive.
And so it was the lack
of regulation, I think,
that's really caught us out.
But it was actually an attempt
to bring in regulation that
sparked the current crisis.
Soaring price of electricity
had led the government,
called Chief Pleas, to bring
in price controls last year.
But Sark Electricity said the
lower prices would bankrupt it,
and the company threatened
to turn the power off
unless it was allowed
to put prices back up.
Sark faced total blackout.
So I am in the main
high street of Sark.
It's called the Avenue.
And as you can see, it is
completely pitch black,
apart from someone passing.
Hello.
Hello.
In a mobility chair, which you
actually need a special licence
to drive because
you're not even allowed
those, because that's
counted as a vehicle here.
There are no street
lights here and no cars.
So the only bits of
light that we have
are little bits of light
from the houses around us.
An eleventh-hour
agreement for Chief Pleas
to buy out the
electricity company
kept the power on
through the winter.
But I'd heard the dispute
was once again bubbling over
because no one could
agree on what price
the government should pay.
What everyone could
agree on was the fact
that 66 pence per
kilowatt hour is a lot
to pay for electricity.
It's over five times
the UK average.
Sark has to import diesel
to convert into electricity,
so prices have always been high.
But how had they shot
up quite so much?
We're so small, we have no
way to spread the costs.
So our price is very high.
The new democratic government
has spent so much time
interfering, it has
cost the company
over a half a million pounds.
And that only put the
price of electricity up.
Their one big demand was that
we open the books to the world.
We're a private
company, and I'm not
interested in letting my
employees' salaries be a matter
for discussion in the pub.
The islanders are worried that
the electricity crisis could
drag on into the
spring and summer
months, when around
55,000 visitors will
descend onto Sark.
I wish they'd hurry up and
get something sorted out
because time is marching
on, and the season's
just around the corner.
And the last thing
we want is for it
all to blow up again right at
the beginning of the tourist
season.
Sarkese may be British
citizens, but the island
has never been part of the UK,
nor subject to its government.
And this has, de
facto, helped Sark
remain isolated from
the modern world.
People like things to
change very slowly,
hence there's no motor cars
on the roads and things.
It's illegal to drive a
motor car on the roads.
It's legal to drive a
motor car over the fields,
but not on the roads.
The island was granted
the right to operate
as an independent royal fief
by Queen Elizabeth in 1565
on condition that it was
kept free of pirates.
But in 2008, its feudal
constitution was reformed,
and Sark held its
first general election.
Some islanders told
me they thought
the old feudal
system was fairer and
that the new, quote unquote,
"democratic government"
is to blame for the
electricity crisis.
What price paradise?
If you want reliable
electricity,
you have to pay for it.
I think it was a fake
crisis personally.
I don't think that
any government
should put its population in a
situation of crisis like that.
And I don't think it
was a real crisis.
I think it should have been
sorted out long before.
If the clash of
cultures on Sark really
is one between protectionists
and commercialists,
it's easy to see why
the government is
refusing to back down.
They've learned
from market forces
that if yours is
the only bid in town
and the seller wants to
sell, you dictate the price.
