Australian Energy Council - March CER Melbourne Lunch

Lineup

• More details about Host | Louisa Kinnear, Chief Executive Officer, AEC

  Host | Louisa Kinnear, Chief Executive Officer, AEC

  Louisa Kinnear assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Energy Council in September 2024. Prior to this, Louisa was the Chief Executive Officer at Jacana Energy, the largest energy retailer in the Northern Territory. She has also held senior roles at Synergy, Western Power and Water Corporation and previously worked for the Department of the Premier and Cabinet in Western Australia. For the past 15 years, Louisa has helped governments, businesses, and customers across various jurisdictions navigate and benefit from the renewable energy transition. She is a strong advocate for fostering collaboration across the energy sector to ensure a successful transition.

• More details about Keynote Speaker | Damien Nicks, Chief Executive Officer, AGL

  Keynote Speaker | Damien Nicks, Chief Executive Officer, AGL

  Damien Nicks is MD and CEO at AGL, one of Australia’s leading energy companies with a commitment to deliver one of the most significant decarbonisation initiatives in the country. His vision will deliver value for AGL's customers and shareholders and position the company for future growth. Damien is responsible for driving a once-in-a-generation transformation of AGL’s generation and retail portfolios to an integrated low carbon energy leader, with an ambition to add 12 GW of new renewable generation and firming capacity by the end of 2035 while helping 4.6 million customers decarbonise and electrify the way they live, move and work. Prior to becoming MD and CEO in January 2023, Damien held several senior executive finance positions at AGL before joining its Executive Team as Chief Financial Officer in August 2018. With more than 10 years’ experience in the energy industry, Damien is Director of the Australian Energy Council and is a strong advocate for diversity and gender equality as a founding member of the Champions of Change Coalition Energy Group. Damien’s significant leadership and project delivery experience in complex and large multinational organisations spans more than 29 years across a number of other sectors, including logistics, industrial and professional services. Qualifications BCom (Honors), FCA, GAICD Current Directorships Director of the Australian Energy Council, a peak industry body for electricity and downstream natural gas businesses, and Director of Kaluza Ltd (AGL's nominee director).

• More details about Panel Facilitator | Tess Fitzgerald, Partner in Energy Infrastructure, KPMG

  Panel Facilitator | Tess Fitzgerald, Partner in Energy Infrastructure, KPMG

  Tess Fitzgerald is a Partner in Energy Infrastructure at KPMG and the firm’s co‑lead for Networks. She is a nationally recognised advisor on consumer energy resources and distributed energy integration, working with governments, market bodies and industry across the energy value chain to shape the future decentralised system. Tess specialises in solving complex commercial, technical and regulatory challenges, with deep expertise in how CER interacts with network planning, market design and consumer outcomes. Her career spans senior roles across the sector, including as an energy lawyer at Allens, leading retail policy for the Australian Energy Council, and at AEMO, where she worked on foundational DER demonstrations and AEMO’s first virtual power plant trial. At KPMG, Tess leads interdisciplinary teams of engineers, lawyers, commercial advisers and regulatory specialists to deliver practical, future‑focused solutions that enable secure, efficient and consumer‑centred CER integration.

• More details about Panellist | Andrea Bernard, EGM and COO - Retail, ENGIE ANZ

  Panellist | Andrea Bernard, EGM and COO - Retail, ENGIE ANZ

  Andrea Bernard has extensive expertise in leadership both within the energy sector and other industries. Andrea joined ENGIE in 2019 and has held the roles of Chief Customer Officer Retail ANZ, and Managing Director ENGIE Digital in Paris, ENGIE’s group digital transformation accelerator. Andrea brings a passion for delivering a consistent, cost effective, and digitally enabled customer experience, along with a high performance culture within the teams she leads. She has proven experience championing new energy propositions for customers and ensuring that ENGIE’s global zero-carbon objectives are fundamental to the local strategy. Andrea holds a Bachelor of Business with Distinction from RMIT and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

• More details about Panellist | Anna Collyer, Chair of AEMC

  Panellist | Anna Collyer, Chair of AEMC

  Anna Collyer has more than two decades of experience in the Australian energy sector and has worked extensively on industry reform. She was appointed as Chair of the Australian Energy Market Commission on 1 February 2021. Along with Chair of AEMC, Anna was appointed Chair of the Energy Security Board (ESB) on 1 November 2021, charged with delivering the Post-2025 energy market reforms to create a power system fit for the future. In May 2023, the Energy Ministers agreed for the ESB to transition and become the Energy Advisory Panel (EAP) from 1 July 2023. Anna was previously Chair of the EAP, and is now a member. As a partner of Allens law firm from 2001 to 2020, and in her early career, Anna focussed on the energy sector throughout its evolution, from the initial reforms of the 1990s to its current period of major transformation. Drawing on her in depth sector knowledge and strategic approach, Anna advised a broad range of clients in the public and private sectors on major projects and transactions, working closely with energy ministers on a number of occasions. Anna’s leadership roles have focussed on managing complex organisational change. As Allens’ Head of Innovation she fostered innovation at all levels of the firm, not only in technological developments but also in new ways of working and addressing disruption. In 2022, she became one of Australia’s inaugural ambassadors for the global Energy Equality Initiative, supporting the urgent task of improving female representation in the energy sector. Anna has a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne.

• More details about Panellist | Violette Mouchaileh, Executive General Manager, Policy & Corporate Affairs, AEMO

  Panellist | Violette Mouchaileh, Executive General Manager, Policy & Corporate Affairs, AEMO

  Violette’s role focuses on government and stakeholder relations, communications and media, along with strategic reform for both electricity and gas. Prior to moving to her current role, Violette held various roles at AEMO in market design development, market change implementation and operations. Violette previously held roles driving energy market policy in the Commonwealth government and working on competition policy initiatives at the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Her experience includes economic regulation, energy policy development, development of regulatory frameworks, market development and design, and market change implementation.