In our latest round-up of industry appointments the Committee on Fuel Poverty has unveiled three new members, with one being a former Ofgem director and another holding a senior position at National Grid. Elsewhere energy retailer Ovo has revealed its new chief customer officer.
Committee on Fuel Poverty
Three new members were appointed to the Committee on Fuel Poverty this week.
Anthony Pygram was Ofgem’s director of conduct and enforcement where he oversaw the development of its Consumer Vulnerability Strategy.
He has since been a specialist adviser to the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee for its Ofgem and net zero inquiry.
Pygram’s focus was on the consumer and structural issues around the transition to net zero, including the impacts of paying for the transition primarily through charges to billpayers.
Belinda Littleton is National Grid’s head of asset management, light current, electricity transmission.
At National Grid she has led a team of specialists to deliver system upgrades to provide consumer value during the energy transition. She also helped set out National Grid’s strategic perspective on the decarbonisation of transport.
Littleton has in the past worked at Ofgem as an economist where she looked at the impact of the smart meter rollout on vulnerable customers.
She has also previously worked at PwC where she worked with the former Department of Energy and Climate Change to develop the government’s Household Energy Efficiency Strategy.
Meanwhile returning to the committee is Liz Bisset who previously served from December 2017 to September 2021.
She oversaw the research on the impact of Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards in the private rented sector.
Bisset was vice-chair of a developing housing association and is the director of a housing and leadership consultancy providing strategic analysis and leadership support to local authorities.
Her previous work includes as executive director at Cambridge City Council where she was responsible for creating a housing development function that went on to deliver low carbon and zero carbon affordable homes within Cambridge.
The appointments took effect on 3 May and will last for 3 years.
Ovo
Elsewhere, Ovo Energy has announced Dan Burdett is to take up the newly created role of chief customer officer.
Burdett’s previous experience includes working as customer and growth officer for food chain Pret A Manger where he led the transformation of its business model during the pandemic. A core aspect of the change in strategy was a shift to new digital and retail channels.
Prior to his time at Pret A Manger, Burdett held senior roles at a number of global brands including L’Oréal, Unilever, Mars and Ebay.
Raman Bhatia, Ovo chief executive, said: “The urgent need to decarbonise combined with the rising cost of energy means it has never been more important to provide a leading customer experience and support customers when they need it.
“Dan is a world class expert in his field, bringing with him an enormous amount of experience from some of the most customer-centric companies in the world. He will have a critical role in shaping Ovo’s future and I’m looking forward to working alongside him.”
Highview Power
Former Conservative MP and prominent energy sector figure Laura Sandys has joined the board of energy storage company Highview Power.
Sandys has led two government taskforces on the digitalisation of the energy sector, has contributed to whole system policy changes in relation to net zero and in 2019 was awarded a CBE for energy policy. 
Additionally she serves as chair of the British Standards Institute Net Zero Advisory Board, chairs the ESG committee on the board of SGN and is an Energy Systems Catapult board member.
During her time as an MP Sandys served on the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee and was parliamentary private secretary to the minister for climate change.
Since standing down at the 2015 general election, Sandys has co-chaired the IPPR Environment and Justice Commission and ran the Reshaping Regulation Programme with Imperial College, where she authored a report stressing the importance of flexibility delivered through storage.
She was also a member of the government’s Cost of Energy Review chaired by Dieter Helm.
Equinor
Trine Borum Bojsen has been announced as the new senior vice president North Sea renewables at Equinor.
Bojsen, who has more than 27 years of experience in renewable energy, previously served as the chief operating officer at Copenhagen Offshore Partners and prior to this was vice president at Orsted. 
She has worked globally across Europe, the United States and Asia and also serves as a board member at Ceres Power, as well as at MacArtney Underwater Technology Group.
Bojsen said: “As we construct Dogger Bank, the largest offshore wind farm in the world currently being built, develop yet more expertise in floating offshore wind, and add to our portfolio with new projects, this will be an era of evolution for Equinor and for the offshore wind industry.
“I’m honoured and very excited to have this opportunity to lead the great people in Equinor’s North Sea Renewables business.”