Members
Independent Energy Customer Advocate
Louise Benjamin
Louise is a commercial and regulatory lawyer with extensive experience in energy and telecommunications regulation. She has worked as an independent energy customer advocate since 2016.
Louise is passionate about exploring strategic outcomes which benefit customers of regulated businesses. Her aim is to advocate for a balanced and innovative approach to the energy transition to maximise customer value.
Technical Advisor
Jill Cainey
Jill has worked as an advocate for over 15 years in the UK, European, US and Australian energy sectors, representing the interests of electricity storage, electricity networks, clean energy and consumers. Her work focuses on electricity resilience to severe weather and climate change, and she advocates for consumers on industry reference groups.
Jill believes that network innovation has a critical role in delivering a low carbon affordable power system for Australians. She supports innovative approaches, technical, economic and social, that will underpin the ability of consumers to adapt to climate change while remaining healthy and safe.
UNSW Digital Grid Futures Institute
John Fletcher
John is a world-leading academic in power conversion equipment and the underpinning role it plays in the decarbonisation of our energy system. He has been an academic at UNSW since 2010 having spent the first half of his life and career in Scotland. He is a strong advocate of the use of power conversion technology in the electricity grid particularly where it will play an important role in how we plan, operate and protect the future grid.
As an internationally-recognised researcher, he brings thinking and lessons learned from other nations. He hopes to help Ausgrid develop innovative projects that can help solve customer challenges.
CSIRO
Dr John Gardner
Dr John Gardner is a social and behavioural scientist with more than 15 years experience in CSIRO, working on the interface between people, resources and technology. He has investigated attitudes, adoption, usage, and policy in a range of contexts including energy, water, waste, and climate change for public and private-sector entities in Australia.
John is the Engagement theme leader of CSIRO's National Energy Analysis Centre, which combines social, technical and digital science to inform the energy transition in Australia.
Justice and Equity Centre
Jan Kucic-Riker, Policy Officer – Energy and Water
Jan has been a Policy Officer in the Justice and Equity Centre’s Energy and Water Justice team since 2022. He works across a range of areas including pricing, network regulation, and energy planning to ensure people’s needs are met by clean, resilient, and efficient energy and water systems.
Jan advocates for people and communities who are marginalised and facing disadvantage and works to ensure they have a meaningful role in decision-making processes. His work on the CCC seeks to improve equity and limit disadvantage by collaborating with Ausgrid to promote access to affordable, sustainable, and reliable energy services.
Independent Energy Customer Advocate
Mike Swanston
Mike Swanston is a professional engineer with forty years of technical, regulatory and executive management experience within the Australian electricity industry in the areas of asset management, network performance, capital investment and power system operations.
Mike’s recent engagements include working with utilities, governments and regulators in Australia, Central and South-east Asia and the UAE. Mike assists with the prudent, efficient and sustainable development of utility services to customers; across energy and water, telecommunications and civil aviation.
With over seven years as a member of the Australian Energy Regulator’s Customer Challenge Panel, Mike advises the regulator and utilities on the technical, commercial and social aspects of regulatory price resets, with a focus on customer value and efficient service delivery.
