Competition investigations are among various services which have been withdrawn in a funding dispute between the competition authority and the States.
The Guernsey Competition and Regulatory Authority blamed budget decisions made by the Economic Development Committee.
But the committee claimed it had not cut the grant it provided to carry out competition services and has told the GCRA to look harder at how it manages its finances.
‘The level at which the competition grant for 2026 has been set, which is provided by Economic Development, has required the GCRA to scale back its competition work significantly in 2026,’ said GCRA chief executive Michael Byrne.
‘Regrettably, this has meant the authority is no longer in a position to carry out its competition functions other than those areas where there are alternative sources of funding, such as mergers, where application fees apply.
‘Assessment of notifiable mergers will therefore continue.
‘The authority is not able to undertake other functions under the competition law, including assessment of complaints about breaches of the competition law, until the funding for the function is addressed longer term.’
The funding dispute and the consequential effects on consumers look unlikely to be resolved any time soon.
Economic Development said it would not change its position on the GCRA’s finances until it had concluded a wholesale review of the island’s competition and regulatory regime later this year.
‘In 2025, Economic Development provided a competition grant of £150,000 to the GCRA, and the same amount has been provided for 2026,’ said committee president Sasha Kazantseva-Miller.
‘The committee has met with the GCRA and encouraged it to look at how it organises its costs, overheads and revenue.
‘Withdrawing all work on competition matters would be a decision made by the board of the GCRA, which the committee had not been notified about.’
Relations between the GCRA and the States became increasingly strained during the previous political term, as the authority argued that it had insufficient funding and some politicians claimed that its role had outgrown what was required in a small jurisdiction.
The previous States eventually pulled the regulation of electricity prices out of the GCRA’s hands and suspended the competition law to allow Sure to take over Airtel-Vodafone.
But it also commissioned and provided funding for an investigation by the authority into concerns about the cost of materials in the construction sector. Deputy Kazantseva-Miller said her committee had yet to receive the results of that investigation.
Economic Development started its review of the competition and regulatory regime more than 18 months ago. Mr Byrne said the GCRA responded to the committee’s consultation exercise in December 2025.