Published on - 19 Jun 2023
Following the announcement of Penelope Crossley as Chair of the Panel in December, the remaining members of the Panel have now been approved. The Panel will respond to matters referred to it by the Administrator and will be responsible for hearing appeals from Signatories or applicants to the NETCC relating to a decision by the Administrator.
Details of the members of the Panel can be found below.
The Chair of the Panel is Associate Professor Penelope Crossley, an expert in the complex legal issues associated with the energy transition, including renewable energy and energy storage law, and electricity market governance. She has a PhD in international and comparative renewable energy law and runs the Energy Law Program at The University of Sydney Law School. Associate Professor Crossley is known for her sustained engagement with industry stakeholders, and for developing recommendations that have been directly adopted into law, international policy documents, and consumer guides.
Previously, Associate Professor Crossley worked as an international project finance lawyer, and as global in-house counsel for a major global renewable energy company. This commercial and practical legal experience informs her work, ensuring that she focuses on real-world problems and identifies innovative commercial solutions that simultaneously meet the needs of consumers and can be easily translated and applied.
Gerard is a consumer advocate, having worked as a lawyer, policy officer, and advocate for 20 years. Gerard was the CEO of the Consumer Action Law Centre, a leading consumer advocacy organisation that provides legal assistance and financial counselling, for ten years until February 2023. Gerard is a board director of both the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, and was a board director of the Energy & Water Ombudsman Victoria between 2014 to 2023. In addition, Gerard a director of Community Legal Centres Australia, the peak body for community legal centres nationally, and also the Chair of Consumers’ Federation of Australia, the peak body for consumer organisations in Australia, representing a diverse range of consumer groups, including most national consumer organisations.
Alida has 15 years’ experience within energy networks in Australia and the UK and enjoys engaging with a wide range of stakeholders and embedding change into complex organisations and systems. At Ausgrid, Alida is leading the transformation of the business into a Distribution System Operator (DSO) to support the transition to a decentralised, decarbonised, and digitalised energy system. She is passionate about unlocking the most value for and from customer owned energy resources and developing new network services to support the transition to a dynamic net zero energy system.
Alida holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from the University of South Australia and a Master of Science in Public Policy from University College London.
Patrick has 20 years’ experience in sales, product and commercial management roles and more than 12 years’ experience in the solar industry.
He is currently a Director at The Energy Project where he provides energy users and policy makers with advice on Distributed Energy Resource policy, procurement, project delivery and quality assurance.
Patrick is passionate about ensuring consumers are at the centre of our shift towards a distributed renewable grid and believes that the grid of the future will rely more heavily on consumer trust and confidence in DER. Patrick is a member of SA Power Networks Solar Industry Reference Group and has postgraduate qualifications in Energy Policy (UCL) and Climate Change Management (UniSA) and a Bachelor of Science from Macquarie University.
