Competition Authority to focus on connectivity and energy in 2022

Thursday 23 December 2021

The Guernsey Competition and Regulatory Authority has revealed its main projects for next year. They include work on the island's broadband services, rollout of fibre to homes and businesses and development of the energy sector.

The GCRA is independent of the States and the private sector. It was set up by a law made by the States in 2012 with the aim of “supporting and maintaining well-functioning markets in Guernsey". It does this by investigating market failures, working with industry to avoid them and promoting the interests of consumers and their access to fair markets.

The GCRA recently fined the Medical Specialist Group £1.5million for breaching competition law, which the Medical Specialist Group refutes and is appealing. 

The GCRA also recently found that telecoms companies JT and Sure had broken competition law and is considering whether to fine them. Similarly, the findings are refuted by both parties and Sure have said they expect to win an appeal to the Royal Court. 

Michael Byrne, Chief Executive of the GCRA, said that this type of work inevitably attracts the most public attention but is just the tip of the iceberg of what the GCRA does. For example, it has recently been advising the States on various service negotiations and helping companies avoid anti-competitive pitfalls.

Mr Byrne said the public do not see "the vast majority of the work that we do – and it’s not helped by the fact that most of the work that is done is not at the direct customer end - it's done with the systems that support the delivery of service".

Pictured: “We will be involved in quite a lot of areas that won’t reach the public eye,” said Chief Executive Michael Byrne about the GCRA's work programme for 2022.

The publication of its 2022 work programme follows a busy year of change for the GCRA. Alongside trying to maintain its focus through the covid-19 pandemic, the GCRA was split from what had previously been a pan-Channel Islands regulator splitting, and faced these challenges with a new Chairman, Chris Bolt.

Mr Bolt said the job had been quite different from what he expected "in two ways".

“One being covid and the team and the board needing to get used to doing things more remotely," he said. "I think we’ve managed pretty successfully.

“And it’s been a big period of change and I’m not sure I quite anticipated the speed at which Guernsey and Jersey would diverge in their areas of focus in that period.”

In the New Year, the GCRA will focus its work on a range of priorities specific to Guernsey.

Pictured: The main priorities for 2022 which have just been unveiled by the Guernsey Competition and Regulatory Authority. 

Several of the GCRA's projects for the New Year focus on connectivity. It has been working closely with the Committee for Economic Development to prepare for the introduction of 5G and continued rollout of fibre.

Mr Byrne said one key aim is "to meet the kind of quality levels that reach the States’ aspirations in promoting this and we’ll have a role to play in that".

"We’ve been engaging with some of the policy makers to gauge what matters in this sphere. There’s going to be the issue of broadband quality and getting the high levels that we aspire to.”

Although the States' Trading Supervisory Board has taken on responsibility for Guernsey Electricity's tariffs for the foreseeable future, the GCRA will be heavily involved with implementing the States’ energy policy.

In its strategy document, the regulator said: “The States agreed a policy letter...on 10 September 2021 on the regulation of electricity prices by the States through the States' Trading Supervisory Board.

“An Ordinance and States Directions to give effect to that policy decision are currently being drafted. The GCRA will support the further development and delivery of the States' policy ambitions in this sector over 2022 and related workstreams will be developed accordingly.”

Pictured: The GCRA works to make sure that competition rules are applied equally and impartially to all providers. 

The GCRA wants to promote increased interaction with consumers. 

“In 2022, we propose to explore approaches that will enable consumer perceptions to be heard more readily and acted upon, which will also assist in informing underlying trends in consumer perception and the impact of the GCRA’s work."

The latest Express podcast - out tomorrow, 24 December - will include more about the role of the GCRA and its goals for 2022.