1. In your role at Endeavour Energy, what are the big questions that keep you up at night right now?

Our customers’ expectations of the services we offer and ensuring we meet their needs now and in the future. This means we have to have a constant focus on fostering a great customer obsessed organisational culture, whilst ensuring we equip our workforce with the skills and training they need so that they’re prepared for tomorrow. It’s a constant balance, particularly when we know that the energy transition will drive future services with technologies that don’t even exist yet!

2. What are the most exciting opportunities for the energy sector that could emerge before 2030?

New technologies are emerging at rapid pace and we see one of the biggest opportunities in better leveraging data and AI to unlock greater value, drive efficiency and keep prices low. Last year, we established a cross-functional team and implemented an AI accelerator program for productising initiatives that support our strategic vision of decarbonising the grid, while also improving how we serve our customers. As a result of this program, we’re now using OpenAI for analysing call centre sentiment, so we can immediately action feedback, and using AI to improve our Accredited Service Provider submissions review process – so far we’ve been able to significantly reduce manual workload, mitigate errors, and enhance overall enhance customer satisfaction. We’re also working with Australian technology companies, Gridsight, and SwitchedIn to utilise world-leading AI technology to double rooftop solar exports and create bill savings for our customers, while in our day-to-day operations, we’re using AI to optimise how we use drones for powerline inspections to improve efficiency and safety and reduce the impact on customers and livestock. The opportunities are endless!

3. What innovations do you believe will have the most impact on the energy transition?

I’m particularly passionate about driving innovation and enhancing sustainability as we decarbonise the network. Sustainability sits at the heart of our organisational strategy to decarbonise the grid and is integrated into everything we do. That’s why we’ve empowered every single person – from our Board to the frontline, to help us find ways to innovate and keep ahead of the curve.  We’re seeing some really great results – from signing a sustainability-linked loan that ties our sustainability performance with loan pricing, to pioneering digital substations, delivering NSW’s largest community battery program, diverting the vast majority of our waste from landfill, recycling streetlight waste and restoring more habitat than we remove, we’re making great progress, but there’s always more we can do.

4. What’s the one thing in the energy sector that no one is talking about, but should be?

Everyone’s talking about collaboration, but we still need to figure out how we genuinely work together to drive the energy transition at the speed, size and scale that’s needed. I’m looking forward to seeing more of this problem solving at this year’s Australian Energy Week, so if you see an opportunity we can work on, come and say hi!