Written by: Nick Kirby
Posted: 19/02/2013As CEO of the Channel Islands Competition
and Regulatory Authorities, Andrew Riseley
is a rare breed – the head of an organisation
that sees Jersey and Guernsey working closely
together. He talks to Nick Kirby about
everything this role entails.
Originally from
Melbourne in Australia,
Andrew Riseley arrived
in Jersey in 2011 having
seen all sides of the
competition ‘industry'.
As a competition and regulatory lawyer,
he's worked at large law firms in both the UK
and Australia, in-house at a major UK utility,
and served as a legal advisor at the UK
Competition Commission. His experience
covers regulated sectors such as water, energy
and telecommunications, competition law
and public procurement, grocery retailing and
airport price controls.
Having joined the Jersey Competition
Regulatory Authority (JCRA) in July 2011
as Deputy Executive Director, Andrew took
over as Chief Executive of the Channel Islands
Competition and Regulatory Authorities
(CICRA) in June 2012, and is responsible
for overseeing further pan-Channel Island
regulatory work, as well as directing regulatory
activities on both islands. He spoke to
businesslife.co about his time in office so far,
and the distinct challenges of the competition
landscape on the islands.
Having worked in the UK and Australia for
large organisations, what attracted you to
the JCRA (now CICRA) role, which appears
relatively small in comparison?
In my work prior to moving to the Channel
Islands I'd seen competition regulation from
all sides of the ‘transaction'. The Deputy
Exec role at the JCRA was not only a senior
position, but it gave me the chance to become
more involved with decision making. The
fact that it's a small organisation has its pros
and cons, but you get a chance to really make
a difference, and there aren't so many layers
of approval to go through. It's great to be part
of a small group of people who are keen to do
the best job they can for the Channel Islands.
And from a purely selfish perspective, the
quality of life in Jersey is infinitely better than
that of Surrey where I was living before!
CICRA is one of only a few examples of
cooperation between Guernsey and Jersey
actually working. How did this happen, and
what have the ups and downs been?
In a way, it was a pretty organic process.
Before my time, the JCRA and the Office of
Utility Regulation (OUR) in Guernsey were
beginning to work together, but it was all
rather ad hoc. As I understand it, the JCRA
was looking for a new CEO and a board
member asked whether they should approach
the head of the OUR to be the joint head.
They spoke to Commerce and Employment
in Guernsey and Economic Development in
Jersey, and it was ‘inked' within a week.
We still have two different authorities
in law – the JCRA and the Guernsey
Competition and Regulatory Authority
(GCRA) – and we work within that legal
framework, but operate as a single institution.
So when I'm allocating people in my team
across the islands to work on projects that
come in, it's not based on where they happen
to sit but who's best for the role – who has
the capacity and who has the expertise.
In practice, the way we're set up is not
that constraining.
Do you anticipate taking this one step further
– to the point where CICRA oversees one set
of laws?
It's working as it is, so why fix what isn't
broken? In terms of the new Guernsey
Competition Law, we've endeavoured
to work with the drafter to make sure the
substantive provisions are as similar to the
Jersey laws as possible. The view we've taken
since September 2010 is that legislative change
can be quite protracted, so if it can function
the way it's functioning at the moment, it's
hard to create a case for urgent change.
Considering the success of CICRA, what is
your take on further cooperation in other
industries shared by the islands, most notably
financial regulation?
In truth, I suspect financial regulation is
more complex – partly because the islands see
themselves as competitors in financial services
rather than bodies that have an interest in
collaborating. From the CICRA perspective,
there are two advantages of pan-CI working
– we are more efficient and less costly. The
key benefit, though, is having a common
set of rules that businesses operating across
the islands can adhere to. All of our telecom
companies operate across both islands – so
it reduces the amount of regulatory complexity
if they know there's one set of people
administering the rules and one regulatory
approach they have to comply with.
I'm not an expert in financial services, but
I'd imagine there's a lot you can do without
formally or legally merging the two regulators.
How difficult is it being a regulator in small
island economies where some sectors are
naturally monopolistic?
It's a challenge in that sometimes the scope
for there being competition is very limited.
I think it just means you have to regulate in
a smart way and foster competition where
it exists. Part of it is about trying to ensure
that consumers have alternative sources from
outside the islands if that is appropriate, so
they're not captive to one or two providers
in the islands.
Given the abolition of LVCR, one might argue
that it wasn't right to open up the postal
market to competition. How would you
respond to that?
When we opened up competition in Jersey
in 2009/10, there were instances where bulk
mailers who were competing vigorously
for business were being hamstrung in
those efforts by what they saw as relatively
inefficient postal operators. When we went
to talk to the bulk mailers in August and
September 2011, they said the effect of
competition on the postal market had been
remarkable and the operators had risen to the
challenge and had improved the service they
provided to their customers.
The landscape is different now post-LVCR,
yet we would argue there are still fulfilment
businesses in the Channel Islands who are
benefiting from competing suppliers in postal
services. Moreover, the introduction of
competition also spurred both Guernsey Post
and Jersey Post to increase their efficiency.
And another thing is that opening the market
to competition didn't jeopardise Jersey
Post's ability to deliver the universal service
obligation. So all of the assertions that were
made at the time that bulk mail was the only
way of ensuring the delivery of the local
service just weren't borne out.
You are almost a year into the Strategic
Plan 2012-2014 – how are you doing so far
in meeting your objectives?
Things are going pretty much according
to plan. On telecoms we continue to work
to harmonise regulation across the islands.
We've published an initial decision in Jersey
and a draft decision in Guernsey that requires
Sure and JT to introduce wholesale line
rental, which means that consumers will
no longer have to use Sure and JT for their
exchange lines. We're also looking at fixed
number portability and whether we should
allow people to keep their number when they
move their landline to a new provider.
In the medium term, we'd like consumers
to benefit from telecoms bundles, allowing
operators to innovate and offer products
tailored to consumers' needs.
On post, we are looking at how we regulate,
adopting a lighter touch and trying to focus on
areas where consumers are vulnerable. And on
electricity, we've been encouraged by the States
in Guernsey to rethink the way we regulate
Guernsey Electricity, so we are thinking about
the best way of adding value to the island by
regulating in a pragmatic and proportionate way
– seeing whether there is a way for us to step
back, to be less interventionist, while hopefully
looking after consumers and giving Guernsey
Electricity a spur to increase efficiency.
Tell us about the new Channel Island
Competition laws – why is it necessary
to introduce them?
In Jersey, the competition law has been in
place since 2005 and has essentially remained
unchanged since then. But the Guernsey law
is entirely new – Guernsey had no competition
law before this, so it is a big change to our role
there. We've moved from being a regulator
that looks after particular sectors to being the
enforcer of rules that apply across the
economy, which creates a different profile and
means we have much more interaction with
individual members of the public and more
of a job explaining our approach and our role
to a broader range of businesses.
What is the current situation with regard to
the 4G licenses?
We issued a consultation paper in April that
was retracted in May at the request of the
States of Guernsey – the new Commerce and
Employment Minister had identified that the
use of spectrum was a pretty key element to
the potential for economic development in
Guernsey, and didn't want us to continue with
a consultation that might have conflicted with
that development. At the end of this year we
are expecting to receive a document from the
States of both islands outlining their vision for
how spectrum might be used, and depending
on what that says, we'd expect to restart the
consultation on the use of the new 4G bands
early in the new year. Considering EE has
rolled out 4G in the UK, with the other
operators following in 2013, we would like
to make sure we are in a position for those
spectrum bands to be in use in the Channel
Islands soon thereafter.
With a review into school uniforms and petrol
pricing, is CICRA now ‘showing more teeth'
to benefit the consumer?
We have a duty to deliver for consumers in
the islands, so we are focusing on the issues
that affect them – looking at areas where
household expenditure is very high, often
where there's a difference between the prices
in the UK and the islands – and trying to
work out why that is and if there is a way of
increasing competition so those prices come
down. School uniforms and petrol pricing are
two of the areas where we feel that is the case.
And finally, what else are you looking at?
Aside from the work on telecoms, post and
electricity we've already covered, the main
thing we announced recently is a review of
grocery prices at the request of the Economic
Development Department in Jersey. An
important part of the study will be about
diagnosing what, if anything, justifies price
differences between the islands and the UK.
There is a perception by some consumers that
they are being ripped off, and we need to get
to the bottom of that.
Fact file
Name: Andrew Riseley
Age: 39
Position: CEO of CICRA
Married to: Bronwyn
Children: Neve, 6, and Lachlan, 3
Originally from: Melbourne
Lives in: St Brelade
Hobbies: “I love to travel and
hang out with my kids, and taking
the kite to the beach is one of
the highlights of island life. Also,
having never ridden a motorcycle
before I moved to Jersey, I
decided, after two months of
sitting in traffic, that I would get
a Vespa. I recently passed my
motorcycle test and it's a great
way of exploring the island.”
Interesting fact: “I was an
exchange student to Sweden
when I was 18, so I speak
fluent Swedish.”