Jersey Electricity : Celebrating our French connections

Jersey Electricity is delighted to support this week's French Festival and today's Tour des Ports Jersey stopover in celebration of our long-standing business links with France from where we have been importing supplies of low carbon electricity since 1985 - today via three multi-million pound undersea cables.

Only last week we signed a five-year extension to our current supply agreement with EDF, taking it to 2028. CEO Chris Ambler and Finance Director Martin Magee, along with representatives of Guernsey Electricity as our partners in the Channel Islands Electricity Grid, travelled to Paris to sign the latest deal with EDF's Director of Optimisation and Trading Marc Ribière.

Mr Ambler (above right) said: 'The extension changes little; it just provides a longer-term framework from which we can plan ahead, as our aim continues to be to provide reliable, affordable, and sustainable electricity.

'We have excellent relationships with both our suppliers EDF and French network operators RTE, whose engineers work closely with our own on a regular basis, not only on major infrastructure projects like the subsea cables, but also on maintaining the transmission network. We have therefore been long-term supporters of the Tour des Ports and are delighted to support the revival of the French Festival.'

Samples of our £70m Normandie 3 subsea cable are on dispaly at Maison de la Normandie et de la Manche during the Festival, and today at the Norman Market at the Weybridge.

Over 80 boats are participating in this the 33 year of the famous week-long Tour des Ports regatta. Starting in Granville, the fleet raced to Barneville-Cateret and St Peter Port before arriving in Jersey today for dinner and prize giving at the Albert Pier Terminal. The fleet leaves Jersey tomorrow morning for Dielette with further races to Cherbourg before finishing on Friday in St Vaast.

The Jersey stopover this year forms part of the French Festival organised by Maison de la Normandie et de la Manche, Alliance Française de Jersey and Economic Development. It features music, exhibitions, a Norman Market, cinema , petanque, guided tours, theatre and a Bastille Day ceremony on Friday in St Helier Town Hall.For a full programme of events click here.