Chris Harris

Head of Retail Regulation, RWE npower

Biography

Chris Harris is the head of retail regulation at rwe npower, following a period as head of industry, networks and agreements. His background is in trading, consulting and asset management. He is a visiting professor in the Centre for Sustainable Power Distribution at the University of Bath.

Dr Sarah Darby

Energy Programme Research Fellow, University of Oxford

Biography

Sarah Darby researches social and behavioural aspects of energy use in buildings and in 2007 was awarded a three-year interdisciplinary fellowship from the UK Research Councils, to work on domestic energy feedback (displays, billing and metering). She is part of the external evaluation team for the UK Demand Reduction trials of different types of feedback and metering, and was a co-author of 40% House, a widely-debated study of the prospects for reducing carbon emissions from the UK housing stock. Sarah holds a BSc in Ecological Science from Edinburgh University and a doctorate from Oxford. She writes and speaks on issues including energy education, equity, and utility-customer relations.

Neil Barnes

Head of Smart Metering Policy, Ofgem

Biography

Neil Barnes was appointed in October 2009 as Ofgem's Head of Smart Metering Policy and has specific responsibility for setting up and leading the organisation's new Smart Metering Team that is managing the first phase of the smart metering implementation programme on behalf of the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

Neil joined Ofgem in 2008 and led the development of remedies to the issues identified in the Energy Supply Probe – a major investigation into the state of competition in the GB retail energy markets. The resulting package of remedies, which involved significant changes to both gas and electricity supply licences, was introduced in October 2009 and is in the process of being implemented by suppliers.

Prior to joining Ofgem, Neil spent over ten years at HM Treasury. During this time he worked as a senior economic adviser in a wide range of policy areas including energy markets and financial services. He also spent a spell on secondment to the Competition Directorate-General at the European Commission in Brussels