UCL-Energy seminar: 'The Imbalance of Power: consumers and energy affordability', Louise Strong, Which?

Rising energy costs are a top financial concern for consumers. The average energy bill now stands at £1420, and many people are dipping into savings or even going into debt to pay these bills. This talk will provide an overview of Which?’s policy and campaigning work to help ensure the energy retail market works in the interests of consumers.  

The talk will also look more broadly at the lack of transparency in energy markets and the information asymmetry that exists between the energy industry on one hand, and consumers and consumer groups on the other. It will explore the implications of this for the affordability of energy for consumers, whether in relation to the retail or wholesale markets, the decarbonisation agenda or energy efficiency. It will outline recommendations from the recent Which? Policy reports, in their series The Imbalance of Power, which seek to help overcome these information imbalances.

About the speaker:
Louise is a senior policy adviser in the energy policy team at Which?, where she is policy lead on decarbonisation, working on issues around electricity market reform and the decarbonisation of domestic heat. She has recently written the Imbalance of Power: the Challenge of Decarbonisation, the third publication in Which?’s series of energy policy reports. Louise is on numerous stakeholder groups, including DECC’s Contracts for Difference expert group. Before joining Which?, Louise was a senior policy adviser in the CBI's Climate Change and Energy Directorate, leading on energy efficiency. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Sheffield and her thesis examined the role of the business community in the making of UK climate policy.

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