Jersey Competition and Regulatory Authority chief executive Tim Ringsdore and outgoing chair Stephanie Liston tell Emily Moore about the organisation’s mission and achievements over the past six years
ANYONE who strives each month to balance their household’s budget will have noticed that the cost of living in Jersey has risen in recent years.
While people might moan about this while chatting to friends and family, such anecdotal evidence is borne out by the latest Statistics Jersey Retail Price Index report, which shows that prices increased by 2.7% between March 2025 and March 2026 to stand at 243.6. (And, perhaps more tellingly, in June 2000, that figure was 100, which means that prices have increased by 143.6% in the past 26 years.)
But while some Islanders may be feeling the pinch, it is likely, says the outgoing chair of the Jersey Competition and Regulatory Authority, that, were it not for the organisation’s work, the cost of living would be even higher.
“A lot of people do not fully understand the JCRA’s role but a significant part of our work revolves around trying to control the cost of living, which is a major agenda item for the government,” said Stephanie Liston, who became chair six years ago shortly after the dissolution of the Channel Islands Competition and Regulatory Authority and subsequent creation of the JCRA.
“In addition to regulating the Island’s connectivity – Ports of Jersey, Jersey Post and telecommunications providers – we administer and enforce the competition law, which has recently been updated, and we examine certain proposed mergers and acquisitions in a way which aims to promote competition and protect consumers’ interests.”
One such merger which the JCRA examined recently was that of Sure and Airtel Vodafone.
“When we examined the proposals, we took the view that a remedy needed to be associated with the merger,” explained Stephanie, “and we therefore insisted that Sure had a mobile virtual network operator with another party. The Coop is now that MBVO across Jersey and Guernsey, something which we believe is a really good solution and adds a lot of value.
“If we hadn’t intervened and insisted on that remedy, I suspect that we would have seen significant price rises in the telecoms industry, so there was a lot of value to Islanders in that work.”
As well as mergers in the telecoms industry, JCRA chief executive Tim Ringsdore said the authority had seen a number of changes in the care-home sector.
“There have been several mergers which we have allowed to ensure long-term support for vulnerable Islanders,” he said. “However, we have also attached conditions to those agreements to make sure that long-term-care beds are available for those who need them.”
When assessing a proposed merger, the duo add, market share and a focus on competition are key considerations.
“The first criteria is market share,” said Stephanie, “and how much is involved in the merger. For example, even if a business has a relatively small market share, if it is fundamental to the Island, we can call it in for inspection.”
“This links to competition and whether there is enough competition in the marketplace,” added Tim. “If a merger would give a business particular dominance, we would have to consider whether to allow that and, if so, which conditions we might need to attach. In markets where there isn’t enough competition, we would either apply conditions or consider new regulation to manage prices.
“This is the case with Ports of Jersey. There is only one ports operator in the Island, and we regulate them, acting as the pseudo competition to make sure prices remain under control.”
Of course, one area in which the topic of competition has been particularly heated recently is in the retail sector, with the possibility of a new supermarket featuring heavily in the build-up to this summer’s elections.
“We would have no problem with a new supermarket coming in,” said Tim. “In fact, we would welcome it, as it would increase and encourage competition. However, if Lidl, for example, wanted to acquire an existing supermarket, or two, in the Island, we would need to look at that because such a move would have a dominant effect on the market.”
While not all mergers have to be brought to the attention of the JCRA, Tim stresses that the authority can still get involved in any case “if something doesn’t feel right”.
“Following recent changes to the law, mergers have been deregulated to a certain degree,” he said. “However, if something doesn’t feel right, we will call it in and request specific information.”
“These regulatory changes have been ten years in the making but are very helpful to the Island,” added Stephanie.
“They also support our position as a body which wants to be a deregulator and to enable value for money. We don’t want to take action unless it is absolutely necessary.”
Picking up on that theme, Tim added: “We don’t want to be a barrier to business. In fact, we want to encourage businesses to compete efficiently and flourish. One of the key messages about the JCRA is that we are in favour of business, competition and of providing value for money across the Island.”
On the subject of value for money, Stephanie highlights a recent study carried out by Frontier Economics, an independent consultancy, which calculated the JCRA’s economic value to the Island.
“As part of the study, the team looked at seven of the projects on which we had worked over the past five years and analysed them to assess the value we had added,” she said. “That study found that the economic value of our work to the Island over those five years was between £23m and £42m, which equates to between £36 and £66 per Islander, something of which I feel really proud.”
Something else on which Stephanie reflects with pride is the composition of the authority’s team and board.
“When I started, there were just two board members, Hannah Nixon and Paul Masterton, and two people in the office, Tim, who was interim chief executive, and Sarah Price, the chief operating officer,” she recalled.
“As the JCRA was in its infancy following the dissolution of CICRA, I had the luxury of appointing a brand-new board, and we were very fortunate to attract Ian Walder, a professor at Queen Mary University of London who wrote the definition of cloud computing, and Dr Lara Stoimenova, an expert economist.
“Tim has also built the office team very well, taking the numbers from two to ten in the past six years, which has significantly reduced our reliance on external consultants and has allowed us to build a much more efficient organisation.”
“Long term,” added Tim, “this is really beneficial to the Island, as we are building expertise and local knowledge, which is invaluable.”
As well as focusing on competition and delivering value, the JCRA works to “make sure that connectivity is robust and resilient”.
“There were some issues around that when I joined, particularly in relation to emergency services outages, when Islanders were unable to make 999 calls,” she said. “We lodged the idea of a liaison committee, involving the communications operators from each service, which has been a great success.”
This solution, says Stephanie, exemplifies the JCRA’s preference for using its “soft powers” as a regulator.
“I’m a lawyer by training but I’m not a litigator, so I always start by looking for solutions,” she said, adding that this was a stance she had taken ever since her time as a member of the OFCOM board.
“The first step is always to identify the problem we are trying to solve and then to think about the soft and hard powers we could use to solve it. While we have a number of tricks we could use, if we can solve the problem by changing a licence or taking another action which avoids the expense of litigation, that is always our preference, and it is also an approach which differentiates the JCRA from its Guernsey counterpart.”
That approach has also, she says, increased the regard in which the JCRA is held.
“Before I joined, some issues had been tackled through litigation and there had been some disagreements about the solutions, which meant CICRA, and the JCRA in its very early days, were not very well respected,” she said. “However, that position has changed, and having an independent body with a pure Jersey focus has been very beneficial.”
Also supporting the body’s work, says Stephanie, is the range of market studies which it undertakes.
“We have looked at everything from the construction industry to school uniforms,” she said. “In each case, we are looking at where vulnerabilities lie and where costs are coming from. For example, school uniforms were only available in certain places, which was impacting the cost. We recommended a trade association, not to collude but to look at the logistics, and that has had a significant impact on costs.”
It may be a simple example, but parents’ ability to find a simple white T-shirt for their child is, says Tim, one of the ways in which the JCRA focuses on the market.
“The goal is to make sure that the market is working well for the Island, providing consumer choice and value,” he explained. “From our studies, we can then make recommendations to businesses and/or the government about what needs to change to make the markets work better.”
While Stephanie and Tim are in no doubt that the JCRA has achieved a lot over the past six years, they recognise that there is still a lot of work to be done and Tim, who has just been reappointed as chief executive for another five years, is clear in his ambitions for the future.
“Working alongside new chair Martin Coleman, we will be absolutely focused on the market and encouraging more competition,” he said. “We also want to deregulate as much as possible and support the government in controlling the cost of living and giving consumers the best value from the services provided here and the right protection.
“We will continue to focus on resilience and reliability within Ports, post and telecoms and do everything we can to enable economic development.”
On this point, both Stephanie and Tim stress that the new government needs to “take action”.
“It took ten years to get a new competition law in place, so I think one of the priorities of the new government has to be taking action, rather than looking at things for a long time,” she said.
“Decision-making is critical,” agreed Tim. “We are all focused on encouraging economic development and controlling the cost of living, something we have heard a lot about from our politicians, and we will do everything we can to support those aims and reduce barriers to business while keeping prices down as far as possible and giving customers as much choice and value as we can.”
