On its website, the Guernsey Competition & Regulatory Authority trumpets considerable successes as it marks 25 years in existence in the island.
It claims savings of £13m. for islanders on conveyancing fees, since it outed something of a cartel some years ago. £23m. in savings to retailers following a price control on wholesale broadband and leased lines and 31% in savings on wholesale broadband.
But who would have guessed that? For the GCRA, still under what is turning into a rather extended review by the Economic Development Committee, has a profile problem.
It’s far removed from the organisation it was established as in 2001 when it was regulating a newly-commercialised telecoms, electricity and postal market. Now it’s only really doing telecoms of those three, and even then, the States disregarded it over Sure’s acquisition of Airtel-Vodafone.
Less than a year ago it was defeated in the courts over massive fines imposed on local telcos.
It’s not known as a consumer champion in the way that Jersey’s Consumer Council clearly is, and now it’s clashing with government over funding, which seems to carry the implication that Economic Development is indicating that the GCRA is not only facing budgetary restraint, but might well be actually fighting for its very existence.
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