Competition in Regulated Markets:
Fostering Innovation or Failing to Deliver?
Public faith in competition in regulated markets where extensive rule-books are required to sustain competition continues to decline. Governments have been adjusting their approaches. The UK is introducing energy price caps by the end of 2018, and in July the ACCC proposed the introduction of default retail prices to be regulated by the AER. The government proposes to create energy-specific trust-busting powers for the ACCC and in June the AEMC concluded that the retail energy market is “currently not delivering the expected benefits to customers”.
So what does this say about the future of competition in these markets? Data driven innovation and the possibilities of the consumer data right should translate into compelling customer offers. Smart intermediation from retailers should promote participation and access to a range of market offers. Will innovation increase customer engagement and liberate customers?
This seminar will address key issues such as, are the market, the regulators and the retail providers up to the task? Do the regulators need to reinvent themselves and if so what is the right way forward? The focus on the distributional outcomes between active and disengaged, and between mobile and vulnerable, speaks to the inescapable essential nature of these regulated services. How do the regulators adapt to this broader role that their stakeholders appear to demand? Will this hold back innovation, or on the contrary do the regulators need to deliver fairer markets to secure more public acceptance? Where we do need to draw the lines and what are the alternatives?
The RPIANZ will holding a launch seminar
The Australian launch seminar will include preeminent speakers in the regulatory market:
- George Yarrow, Chair, Regulatory Policy Institute
- Fred Hilmer, Regulatory Policy Institute Distinguished Fellow
- Ron Ben-David, Chair, ESC (VIC)
- Peter Boxall, Chair, Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART)
- Nevenka Codevelle, Group Executive Governance, Risk & Legal, APA Group
- Luke Woodward, Partner Gilbert + Tobin and RPI Company Secretary