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.
St Vincent de Paul Society
Gavin Dufty, National Director Energy Policy and Research
Gavin’s focus is on issues and challenges of disadvantage vulnerable households. He has undertaken research into electricity disconnections, changes in energy pricing, proposed rule changes and been involved in the development of state and federal energy consumer protection and concession frameworks.
Gavin is currently a representative on several industry and government committees including gas and electricity distribution companies’ customer consultative committees; the AER’s / ESC customer consultative group and a Board member of Energy Consumers Australia.
Independent Energy Customer Advocate
Mark Grenning
Mark represents all aspects of electricity and gas supply to large companies in the National Energy Market. He is involved in a wide range of industry and regulatory advisory bodies.
Previously, he was a member of the AER’s Consumer Challenge Panel for five years and lectured in the Energy Masters program at the University of Melbourne for five years. Prior to that, he worked around the world for 30 years with Rio Tinto specialising in electricity and gas supply to operations.
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.
Economist
Richard Tooth
Richard has worked for over 15 years as a consulting economist advising on regulatory and policy issues for regulators, regulated utilities and governments. He has worked across a broad range of sectors including energy, water and transport. A key focus of his work has been on designing pricing strategies to improve customer outcomes.
Richard’s passion is in applying economics and behavioural insights in developing and communicating good policy for the benefit of the community. He recognises the significance of the energy transition, and the role the pricing and other settings can have on ensuring energy remains affordable. His aim is to ensure that these setting are well designed for the long-term interests of all.
Independent Energy Customer Advocate
Richard Walsh
Has held executive-level roles in the energy, media, and government sectors. I have a strong background in strategy, transformation, regulation and enterprise architecture, guiding service delivery for customers, corporate functions, HR/Finance systems, and aligning with business goals. I am recognised for managing digital, data, AI, and technology transformations, translating corporate vision into sustainable, secure operations with continuous improvement.
Motivation for joining the Ausgrid CCC stem from desire to leverage my extensive energy sector experience to benefit the community. I aim to advocate for a more reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy future for energy customers, potentially focusing on grid modernisation, customer empowerment, and seamless integration of renewable energy sources. This is through Safe, insights and digital services that support network of the future.
