Customer Advisory Panel

Philip is an experienced consumer advocate and regulator, based in Melbourne where he is a United Energy customer. He is principal of Consumer-wise Consulting, working on strategy, policy, engagement and governance. He is a member of the boards of the Clean Energy Council, the Financial Basics Foundation (which he chairs), Consumer Action and Consumers’ Federation of Australia. Philip has held senior roles at the Australian Energy Regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the UK energy regulator Ofgem, as well as three UK consumer organisations.

Hilary’s experience covers energy and carbon markets, sustainability, energy productivity and product development. Her work has centred around creating sustainable futures for heavy industries and infrastructure portfolios in a changing climate; driving strategy and corporate engagement on decarbonisation, renewable energy, and climate resilience. She is currently the General Manager – Strategic Energy Management within the GFG Alliance, responsible for a significant wholesale electricity and gas portfolio and the development and execution of energy strategy and risk management. Hilary is a Board member of the South Australian Hydrogen Technology Cluster (SA-H2H) and is a CitiPower customer.

Natalie Collard is the Executive Officer for Food and Fibre Great South Coast. She is a highly regarded advocate for regional Australia, agriculture, renewable energy, innovation and women’s leadership. Her board experience includes the Australian Government’s Council of Australian Latin American Relations, Landcare Australia Ltd, Agsafe Ltd and the Victorian Government Agriculture Energy Investment Plan Independent Advisory Council. The southwest Victorian region Natalie represents is serviced by Powercor, while she lives Bayside and is serviced by CitiPower.

After training as a social worker, Dean worked in several community development roles followed by more than a decade in energy policy advocacy for the Victorian Council of Social Service before moving to Renew as their Senior Energy Analyst where he focused on policy analysis and advocacy in national and state energy markets. Dean’s Renew work looked at DER enablement, tariff reform, and consumer protections in emerging energy markets. Since leaving Renew in 2022 Dean has undertaken research and analysis of community energy projects for Melbourne University, delivered an ongoing series of community information webinars on energy issues, and served on energy businesses’ advisory panels in NSW, Vic, Qld and SA.

Helen is a Fellow of The Research Society and an Accredited Statistician, with an Advanced Certificate in Engagement. She is a principal consultant with Bartley Consulting where she undertakes and advises on social research, evaluations, and consumer engagement with a focus on the water and energy sectors. Helen is a current member of the Australian Energy Regulator’s (AER) Consumer Challenge Panel which provides consumer-oriented advice to the AER to help it make better regulatory determinations and she was a member of the AER’s Consumer Reference Group its Inflation Review 2020 and Rate of Return Instrument 2022. She is a customer of CitiPower and United Energy and she also sits on AusNet’s Stakeholder Reference Group.

Gavin currently runs the policy and research unit at St Vincent de Paul Victoria. Over the past 30 years he has participated in numerous electricity distribution, gas distribution and transmission regulatory resets across Australia. He has also been a representative on the Australian Energy Market Commission’s Reliability Panel and the Australian Energy Market Operator’s Integrated System Plan Consumer Panel. He’s currently a representative on the Australian Energy Regulator’s and the Essential Services Commission Victoria Customer Consultative Groups and a board member of Energy Consumers Australia.