speakers

Session: Creating the opportunity for more concerted action for vulnerable customers: Game Changer project

Jarrod Ball was appointed a Board Member of the Australian Energy Regulator in May 2023.

Prior to joining the AER, Jarrod was Chief Economist at the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) leading their economic research and advocacy. He has over 20 years’ experience in public policy, government relations and economics, working across state and federal governments and major Australian companies such as EY and BHP. Jarrod has provided economic and policy advice to governments across the energy, transport and telecommunications sectors, including as a lead adviser on microeconomic reform in the Victorian Government.

Jarrod has also held several board and committee positions across government and business and until recently was an Adjunct Associate Professor at Deakin Business School.

Jarrod holds a Masters in Economics from Monash University, and a Bachelor of Business and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Southern Queensland.

Session: Opening remarks from the Chair

Ben Barnes was appointed General Manager Corporate Affairs and Retail in August 2022, after joining the Australian Energy Council in July 2018 as Director Retail Policy and being promoted to the role of General Manager, Retail Policy in April 2020. Prior to joining the Council, Ben was a Regulatory Manager at Red Energy for 7 years, responsible for consumer protection and distributed energy regulation.He has extensive knowledge of retail energy markets and its regulatory framework, with particular expertise in consumer protections, engagement, and new product innovation.

Session: PANEL DISCUSSION: What does energy retailing look like in 2025 and 2030?

Stephanie is a respected transformation leader with over two decades of experience across the Australian energy sector and broader economies it impacts. Stephanie has cemented her career in the energy sector holding leadership roles in technical, commercial, strategic, policy and advisory; with expertise in energy market policy and regulation, energy technologies and service innovation, networks and grid modernisation.

Stephanie is the CEO and Principal of Nexa Advisory an advisory firm helping public and private clients navigate the energy transition through trusted, value-added and future proofed advice and solutions.

She previously led the policy vision & strategy at AGL in relation to the reform of network regulation relating to new energy technologies & services. Stephanie had key roles in driving the clean energy transformation and establishing the national policy agenda around virtual power plants, and competition reforms in new energy technologies and services.

Session: PANEL DISCUSSION: What does today’s energy consumer want and how does the industry develop products to meet them?

Nigel Clark was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Aurora Energy in September 2022.

Nigel has more than two decades' energy sector experience across the financial, strategic and operational roles. This includes four years as Managing director of Momentum Energy following its acquisition by Hydro Tasmania in 2007-08.

He has also worked in senior roles with TRU Energy, now Energy Australia, and most recently as Chief Operations Officer at Genesis Energy in New Zealand. He has served as Director for Boards including Snowy Hydro Corporation and the Energy Retailers Association of Australia.

Session: Dissecting what customer-centric solutions really mean – what technology truly supports an exceptional customer experience?

Session: PANEL DISCUSSION: How do we translate tech into stronger customer relationships?

Margaret is Chief Customer Officer for Octopus Energy and has previously led electricity retailer Powershop. She has worked across a range of functions including operations, regulatory affairs, strategy, restructuring and capital raising in the energy and technology sectors. She holds an LLB and BCom (Economics).

Session: PANEL DISCUSSION: What does energy retailing look like in 2025 and 2030?

Session: Creating demand response programs that are a win-win: consumers save money, and the grid remains stable

Daisy heads up Energy UK’s policy work looking at the future GB retail energy market. The team is looking at what needs to happen to ensure the retail market is able to deliver the innovative products and services which help energy customers reduce and change their usage. This will support the move to the flexible grid needed to reduce our reliance on foreign gas and meet out Net Zero goals. Energy UK is the main trade body for the UK energy industry.

Session: Using debt prediction to minimise exposure to late or non-payment of energy bills

Libby Dale is a digital professional passionate about all things related to customer experience and customer success. Having worked in technology for 25+ years, Libby became frustrated with the lack of solutions to solve the problem of customer churn. She left corporate life to co-create the ground breaking churn prediction and treatment software SmartMeasures, enabling large customer centric organisations to predict and control customer churn.

Libby is passionate about keeping customers happy though clever technology. She believes customer churn can be avoided in a way that delivers both happy customers and improves the business bottom line.

Session: Opening remarks from the Chair

Associate Professor Roger Dargaville is an educator and researcher in renewable energy in Monash University's Department of Civil Engineering, and is the acting Director of the Monash Energy Institute. He's an expert in energy systems and climate change working primarily in the weather-energy nexus, with experience working at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (USA), UNESCO, the International Energy Agency (France) and University of Melbourne.

Roger leads a research group of PhD students and postdoctoral fellows working on a diverse range of energy-related topics, including optimised renewable generation systems, life cycle analysis, hydrogen pathways, integration of EVs and novel energy storage technologies.

Session: Managing evolving energy regulation and how the burden of compliance might be reduced

Jo De Silva is the General Manager Retail Policy at the Australian Energy Council. Jo was most recently a senior leader at the Australian Energy Market Operator (ISP Consumer Panel) and Energy & Water Ombudsman SA, experienced in representing the long-term interests of different cohorts of energy consumers in regulatory and technical processes. Jo has served as a member of the Energy Security Board Stakeholder Steering Group and the National Customer Code Council for Comparators and Moving Services.

Jo was a member of the Australian Energy Regulator Consumer Reference Group, all four Energy Security Board National Energy Guarantee Technical Working Groups and the Australian Energy Market Commission System Security Technical Working Group. Heading up energy policy at the South Australian Council of Social Service for around a decade, Jo convened the National Consumer Roundtable on Energy and was an inaugural member of the AER’s Consumer Challenge Panel. Jo is a former Judge of the South Australian Premier’s Mining and Energy Awards.

Session: Behavioural economics applied to energy customers

Yatra is currently GM Retail Opportunities with Energy Queensland, where she is responsible for retail strategy including overseeing retail product development, digital metering and analytics.

Her previous roles include leading the Strategy and Planning function at CS Energy, Business Development and Analytics roles at Senex Energy, Vale and Suncorp. She also worked with clients across different industries in her 9 years with BDO’s Corporate Finance team, advising on business valuations and M&A transaction support assignments. Yatra was a sessional lecturer and examiner in Applied Finance subjects for Kaplan’s (and its predecessor, FINSIA) Master of Applied Finance program for over 10 years.

She currently serves as an independent member of the Finance Risk and Audit Committee of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (QLD section).

Session: Allowing energy consumers to understand and take control of their energy use

Louisa is an influential marketing executive with expertise building brands with purpose and leading high performing teams to deliver brilliant commercial outcomes. She has helped businesses innovate, disrupt and accelerate growth in unconventional ways by operating at the intersection of data, insights, and behavioural science.

Louisa believes the best business strategy relies on a data-led understanding of the customer and being passionately customer-centric.

Louisa has led strategy and marketing across multiple industry sectors for more than 20 years.  Since joining Horizon Power in 2018 and producing their five-year corporate strategy, Louisa established the first marketing & insights business unit within the new Customer & Community division.  During this time she has led the corporate rebrand, the customer digital experience transformation including a new customer portal and website, and launched three new customer products.  Louisa also created the first Decarbonisation Index for regional businesses in WA and established Horizon Power’s first Customer Council in 2023.

Session: Examining the energy consumer experience, risk and process in the age of generative AI

Dr. Paulo Gottgtroy is an accomplished professional with over 30 years of experience in applying AI to business problems. He started as an Air Force pilot but discovered his passion for computer science and mathematical modelling while working on war rooms and simulations.

Currently, he serves as the Head of Decision Science & Analytics at Mercury NZ, leading various initiatives that focus on solving complex business challenges through AI applications. With a successful track record in strategic program delivery and leadership across diverse technical domains, Dr. Gottgtroy has earned recognition for his applied and innovative work.

His previous roles include Data Science Senior Manager at Air New Zealand and Chief Data Scientist at Inland Revenue NZ, where he consistently pushed the boundaries of AI to drive innovation and achieve remarkable outcomes.

Session: FIRESIDE CHAT: Acting on urgent transition and affordability issues

Session: PANEL DISCUSSION: How does the sector most effectively address energy affordability?

Fiona has been involved with the consumer movement for over 30 years, including a number of years on the executive of the Consumers’ Federation of Australia. She’s a former board member of Energex Retail, the Insurance Ombudsman Service and the Financial Ombudsman Service, and a former chair of ASIC’s Consumer Advisory Panel.

She joined FCA as CEO in mid-2009, is a member of the boards of Way Forward Debt Solutions, consumer advocacy group, Choice and the Queensland Competition Authority. She also represents FCA on the ACCC’s Consumer Consultative Committee. She holds a B.A., L.L.B and M.B.A. and in 2017 was a recipient of an Order of Australia for significant service to the community through social welfare and financial counselling roles.

Session: Making an energy retailing model specifically for vulnerable customers

Session: PANEL DISCUSSION: How does the sector most effectively address energy affordability?

Ezra Hirawani is the co-founder of Nau Mai Ra, an initiative working to end power poverty in Aotearoa.

The company works by charging people a normal rate for their power and using some of that money to pay power bills for those less fortunate.

Hirawani was named Young New Zealander of the Year 2022 for his efforts to combat energy hardship.

Session: PANEL DISCUSSION: How do we translate tech into stronger customer relationships?

Steve Hoy is a global utility industry executive and recognized subject matter expert in smart grid and 24/7 Carbon Free Energy solutions. As a founder and CEO of Enosi he leads a team developing retail energy traceability solutions using the latest metering and scalable cloud technologies for proof of provenance.

He has over 35 years’ experience in engineering, IT and strategy concentrating on the utilities sector, having started his career in the early 1980s as a power engineer with the local distribution utility (now AusGrid). His career has evolved from power engineering through SCADA and control systems, into mainstream retail and billing solutions at Logica, PwC Consulting and later IBM where he led IBM’s global smart grid consulting team for 7 years.

Steve is now CEO of Enosi Australia, which aims to disrupt the power industry through the development of innovative energy traceability, trading and settlement solutions.

Session: Helping customers navigate the ‘green’ electricity maze to keep them engaged, motivated and optimistic about renewables and the transition

Olivia Hudson is the General Manager of Marketing and Product at Momentum Energy, independently rated as one of Australia’s greenest electricity companies. Olivia has more than 20 years experience in a variety of product, marketing and communications roles at organisations including Jetstar Airways and the AFL. She has been with Momentum for nearly three years and is a member of the Momentum Leadership Team.

Session: Unlocking grid edge intelligence and demand side response with next-gen smart meters: case studies from Melbourne and California

Michael is the Managing Director of EMEA & APAC at Sense, chartered with expanding the company’s global footprint into Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific.

Michael brings over 20 years of experience in consulting, strategy and leadership in energy and climate tech.  Michael began his career with Accenture before serving as Head of Strategy for two of the UK’s largest energy retailers, British Gas and SSE. He then built and led SSE’s Smart Home business unit, “Home Intelligence”. 

Before joining Sense, Michael was Managing Director at Verv, a climate tech scale backed by British Gas and Innogy. Michael holds an MBA from the University of Warwick as well as a BA in History from Birmingham University.

Session: FIRESIDE CHAT: Acting on urgent transition and affordability issues

Bec has over 15 years’ experience enabling sectors and communities to work together. Her background spans from all levels of government, not-for-profits and the private sector. She is motivated by systemic changes that work to support all people (leaving no one behind). Fundamentally, she is a community development practitioner who relies on her curiosity to continually learn and her positivity to identify possibilities. This commitment extends to the for-purpose group Hive that she founded in 2008, connecting communities with their services, businesses, institutions and sectors.

Session: PANEL DISCUSSION: How do we translate tech into stronger customer relationships?

Michael has great experience leading teams both on and off the sporting field, and brings a new consumer-focused perspective to Pooled and their customers.

Since he joined Pooled in March 2023, he has been concentrating on getting customers reconnected after Pooled came back online with the help of the Intellihub Group. He is excited by what is planned for Pooled 2.0, with more reliable and secure technology and new services for pool owners.

Session: Better engagement and collaboration with vulnerable customers to ensure they are not left behind in the transition

Session: PANEL DISCUSSION: How does the sector most effectively address energy affordability?

Louisa Kinnear has been a part of the Jacana Energy family since 2019 in an executive leadership capacity. With vast industry knowledge and a strong focus on customer service and delivery, she is well positioned to lead us as a CEO at a time when the NT energy market is undergoing a rapid transition.

She joins a growing number of women leading Northern Territory organisations and is the second woman currently heading up a Northern Territory utility. We are looking forward to the positive growth she is dedicated to, which will ensure our customers get an improved experience year upon year.

Session: PANEL DISCUSSION: What does today’s energy consumer want and how does the industry develop products to meet them?

Jacob Mahoney has been in the energy industry for over 8 years previously working in Energy Consultancy firms specialising in tenders and customised energy management solutions for commercial and industrial clients. 

He has extensive experience in energy consultancy, business development and account management. Jacob is passionate about providing customers with real energy solutions that deliver excellent value to customers, ones that can give them competitive advantage in their energy. His dedication to customers is of the highest level implementing strategies that resulted in retention rates of >90% of Flow Power’s load under management.

Session: PANEL DISCUSSION: What does today’s energy consumer want and how does the industry develop products to meet them?

Daniel has held the role of Head of Product Innovation for Simply Energy since 2021. Tasked with commercializing new technologies through creating engaging propositions that resonate with shifting consumer needs, his team is focused on defining the increasingly fragmented energy segments and leveraging opportunities to create value for consumers, retailers, and networks in a seamless fashion while also meeting ENGIE’s renewable, social, and environmental targets. Prior to working with Simply Energy Daniel spent 6 years leading product teams in the Energy and Telecommunications sectors  both in Australia and New Zealand, and has worked for the likes of AGL and Vocus. He also has extensive public policy and strategy experience gained as an advisor to the Victorian Government. He holds an MBA and Masters in Marketing, gained through the Melbourne Business School, as well as a Masters in International Business among other qualifications.

Session: Protecting consumers (and non-vertically integrated retailers) from the volatility of wholesale prices

As General Manager of Markets and Trading at ZEN Energy, James McIntosh leads a team focused on optimising ZEN’s portfolio position across all new business opportunities and Australian energy markets. Identifying opportunities, then defining, and delivering products and solutions to meet the market is James and his team’s specialty.

James began his energy career in South Australia with Synergen Power on 3rd Jan 1999, just as the National Electricity Market commenced operating as a wholesale spot market.

He has worked with International Power, working across spot and forward trading, AGL, commencing as Trading Manager and then Head of Wholesale Electricity. At AGL, he led the successful commercial negotiations for the supply of renewable energy to both the Adelaide and Victorian Desalination Plants.

He commenced working with ZEN in 2016 and was deeply involved in the initial successful supply contract with the South Australian government. In 2019, he and ZEN CEO, Anthony Garnaut created Sunshot Energy, successfully raising debt to support the construction of their energy product portfolio. In 2020, Sunshot Energy purchased ZEN Energy from the SIMEC group and expanded the portfolio that James and his team manage today.

Session: Bundling services to meet the changing expectations of consumers / Why the hell would anyone start an energy retailer?

Adrian was born in Melbourne and grew up in Adelaide before his parents moved to the UK when he was nearly 14. Since leaving home at 16 to join the Air Force, Adrian has quite literally dug holes to bury other people’s crap, served on a mountain rescue team, lived and worked in India, been part of a dot-com startup at the turn of the Millennium, started a teddy bear business (but don't tell anyone about that), turned around a $700 million energy business, got an MBA, and spent 4 years running one of Australia’s largest energy retailers.

After 15 years in the energy sector, Adrian wanted to put his experience to good use to create something that genuinely helps customers and great organisations. And here it is: Energy Locals, which aims to kill off the traditional retail model by dismantling the things that customers find oh so frustrating about today’s energy.

Adrian is a self-confessed workaholic who finds work more of a hobby than a job. This can displease the team at times, who often wake up to a little collection of new Slack messages. He relaxes – well, never really – and loves his hobby of DJing, even though he’s really quite bad at it.

Session: Ensuring that the astonishing changes in the energy system are reflected in exceptional technology and choice for customers

Session: PANEL DISCUSSION: How do we translate tech into stronger customer relationships?

Rob is a visionary builder and problem solver. After a decade employed as an aeronautical engineer, working on complex combat aircraft, he turned his eye to an even more complex challenge–the Australian Energy System! One day Rob looked at an energy bill and wondered “why are electricity prices the highest in the daytime, when the energy is coming from cheap, abundant and renewable solar power?” That idea led to the founding of iO Energy, which has grown to be a leading innovative energy business. Rob has a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering from Adelaide University and Master of Project Management from UNSW.

Session: PANEL DISCUSSION: What does energy retailing look like in 2025 and 2030?

Katalin was appointed as the Head of Customer Marketing at Synergy in October 2022, where she is responsible for leading a multi-functional team that applies advanced analytics and customer-centric approaches to execute Synergy’s customer strategy.

Katalin’s career spans over two decades and four continents – Europe, Asia, Oceania, and North America – in the mining, chemical, and utilities industries. She draws upon significant experience in strategic marketing, pricing, business development, and product management and holds a Global Executive MBA from INSEAD. Katalin is proud to play a leading role in delivering Western Australia’s green energy transition.

Session: PANEL DISCUSSION: What does today’s energy consumer want and how does the industry develop products to meet them?

David Prins is a highly accomplished consultant and project manager, with extensive international consulting experience and expertise in strategic, regulatory and commercial issues, particularly from a customer perspective.  He has a keen understanding and over thirty years of practical experience spanning four continents, specialising in the application of effective regulation, competition and customer engagement in electricity and gas industries.  David thrives on understanding how regulation and competition inter-relate in energy markets, and helping his clients to navigate the often difficult environments in which they have to participate and engage.

David has provided advice to public and private sector clients – industry participants, governments, regulators, customer advocates, and consumer organisations and vendors who would like to improve their understanding of energy and utility markets, and the outcomes for customers – throughout Australia and New Zealand, as well as in Europe, Asia, and North America.

Much of David’s recent work has focused on advice on consumer facing issues in energy and water industries, including regulation of energy network businesses, advice on embedded networks, smart metering in energy and water industries, and retail energy strategy, pricing and margins.  Within Australia, he has worked extensively on national energy market and regulatory arrangements, and also jurisdictionally in all of Australia’s states and territories.  He is a recognised international expert in the areas of cost-benefit analysis, the regulatory and commercial challenges of the rollout of smart meters, consumer engagement, and benefits realisation for consumers.

Session: PANEL DISCUSSION: How does the sector most effectively address energy affordability?

Geoffrey Rutledge has been a Senior Executive with the ACT Government since 2008, and is currently the Deputy Director-General, Environment, Water and Emissions Reduction. 

In this role, Geoffrey’s focus areas include the accomplishment of 100% renewable electricity for Canberra, moving away from our society’s reliance on fossil fuel gas, protecting our native flora and fauna and securing the ambitious target of zero net emissions by 2045. 

Geoffrey is a strategic policy leader that brings a whole of government perspective to his policy development and advocacy.  He has led teams and projects across the ACT Public Service including Chief Minister’s, Education, Community Services, Capital Metro and Environment, Climate Change and Planning.

Prior to joining the ACTPS Geoffrey provided research and advice to elected representatives in the NSW Parliament, the Senate and the ACT Legislative Assembly.

Geoffrey holds qualifications in Psychology, Politics, Public Sector Management, a Masters degree in Policy Analysis, and an Executive Masters in Public Administration.

Session: Exploring the opportunities of Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) for energy retailers and their customers

Byron Serjeantson has a background in engineering, economics and business, and a wealth of experience in the energy and renewables sectors. 

In his 15 years in the industry, he has worked across Australia, the United Kingdom and the Middle East with global engineering firms, Australian renewable developers and Commonwealth Treasury. Byron is former Director of consulting and engineering business Beast Solutions. He joined Flow Power as part of its acquisition of Beast Solutions in 2019. As Chief Operating Officer, Byron leads the engineering divisions in their delivery of energy projects for customers, as well as the growth and development of Flow Power’s renewable portfolio.

Session: PANEL DISCUSSION: What does today’s energy consumer want and how does the industry develop products to meet them?

Sarah is the General Manager of Tas Gas Retail, responsible for TGR residential, commercial & industrial customers, energy procurement and marketing. Sarah joined Tas Gas in May 2021, having previously worked in various leadership roles in AGL Retail, with experience in Third Party Sales channels, Marketing and Customer loyalty. Prior to AGL, Sarah had a background in Financial and Identity Services at Australia Post and earlier in her career working at Lloyds TSB in London.

Session: Supporting customers who are doing it tough while stabilising the energy system with the “Community Energy” product

Lesley joined Synergy in January 2022 and has considerable prior experience with customer engagement in the banking and finance sectors.

As General Manager of the Customer business unit, Lesley ensures Synergy delivers exceptional customer service and innovative solutions to enable and support our customers to meet their changing energy needs. Her team works to leverage market insights for application across sales and customer experience.

Lesley has extensive experience managing contact centres and holds a Graduate Certificate of Business (Leadership) from Edith Cowan University.

Session: Maximising the benefits of rooftop solar systems to export energy

Session: PANEL DISCUSSION: What does energy retailing look like in 2025 and 2030?

Ryan is an experienced energy sector professional determined to make a difference in supporting the transition to a decarbonised future. He is a leading expert in the technology and business model innovation enabling consumers to participate in this transition.

Session: PANEL DISCUSSION: What does today’s energy consumer want and how does the industry develop products to meet them?

As the Head of Commercial Solutions at Flow Power, Emmett leads a large multistate team that drives and maintains growth in the Commercial and Industrial (C&I) retail arm of the business. His role is to ensure that retail solutions suit the needs of Australian C&I energy users and support our vision of powering the renewable energy future, together.

With a Bachelor of Commerce in Economics and Finance from Deakin University, Emmett has a strong background in energy performance analysis, contract negotiation, and new product development. He has also developed skills in team management, channel management, and sales support, enabling him to deliver strong sales results and high levels of client satisfaction and retention across all channels. Emmett is passionate about identifying and implementing strategies that benefit both our clients and the environment.

Session: PANEL DISCUSSION: How does the sector most effectively address energy affordability?

Catherine has experience in leadership positions across utilities, financial services and professional services.

Prior to joining EWOV, Catherine was the Customer Advocate at NAB, working in a senior role with the Board and Executive of one of Australia’s largest organisations to improve dispute resolution and customer outcomes. She has a track record of leadership in Australia and the UK, with a particular focus on dispute resolution and fair outcomes in regulated markets. Catherine held the position of Ombudsman at the UK Financial Ombudsman Service for seven years and led that organisation’s systemic issues and external engagement function. She has also held positions as Board Director of the Australian Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, Chair of the Consumer Policy Research Centre, Panel Member at the Australian Financial Services Ombudsman, Chair of the Economic Abuse Reference Group and is a current Board Director of the Victorian Legal Services Board.

Session: PANEL DISCUSSION: How does the sector most effectively address energy affordability?

Aaron is a Director at the Essential Services Commission of Victoria, leading its energy reform and analysis functions. He has overseen reforms of energy regulation in Victoria relating to consumer protections and standards for energy retail and distribution.

Aaron has a has a special interest in reform for the long-term interests of consumers, emerging trends in the energy sector, and their influence on markets and regulation. He has a wide range of experience across energy regulation, stakeholder engagement and sustainability, having consulted for local councils, state and federal governments, and industry.