Manx Utilities reports £717k loss for 23-24 financial year

Authority's finances improve according to latest annual report

Manx Utilities has recorded a loss of £717,000 over the past financial year.

Whilst still in the red, it's a significant improvement on the previous annual record.

That's right - over the 2022-23 financial year, Manx Utilities recorded a loss of £42million.

The reason, partly, for the difference the following year can be seen in its cost of sales: where as previously that amounted to circa £140 million, in 2023-2024 that total amounted to £69million.

So whereas the overall turnover was £20million lower than the previous year, the amount saved elsewhere puts the MUA closer to the black.

The figures have been published in Manx Utilities latest annual report.

In his opening statement, MUA Chair - Douglas North MHK John Wannenburgh - says: "This financial year has again been dominated by energy prices, the cost of living crisis and the energy transition."

Another reason for the difference in losses year on year is wholesale energy prices - which Mr Wannenburgh says fell from the start of 2023 but increased during the second half of the year, before falling again from November.

The chair says this is what allowed the Board to phase the implementation of the electricity tariff increase and to not implement the full increase announced for 2023-24.

The reduction in wholesale energy prices at the start of this year, he says, has further enabled the Board to implement a five percent reduction in electricity tariff unit rates.

On the cost of living crisis, he says the MUA is very aware of the financial pressures these tariffs put on customers. The company is continuing to monitor market prices and keep tariff levels under review.

There's a warning though that wholesale energy prices remain volatile and higher than pre-crisis levels.

You can read the annual report in full HERE.

The report will go before Tynwald during December's sitting.