Exploring the volatility in the energy sector with Dhara Vyas, Director of Advocacy at Energy UK and Dr Jeff Hardy, Senior Research Fellow at the The Grantham Institute – Climate Change and Environment. Why are bills so high? Why aren’t we solving the crisis by building renewables at pace? What renewables would solve the crisis? What does next year look like? How can communities gain control of their own energy supply?
Our guests:
Dr Jeff Hardy is a Senior Research Fellow at the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London, where he researches what the future low carbon energy system might look like, how people will engage with it and what businesses will be operating in it.
Previously he was Head of Sustainable Energy Futures at the GB energy regulator, Ofgem, and Head of Science for Work Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He’s also worked at the UK Energy Research Centre, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Green Chemistry Group at the University of York and at Sellafield as research chemist in a nuclear laboratory.
Dhara Vyas is an expert on energy consumer issues and joined Energy UK in November 2021 from Citizens Advice, where she was responsible for the consumer watchdog’s work on net zero, decarbonisation and future energy.
Prior to this, Dhara led on several energy retail market issues, including customer service, vulnerability and smart energy.
Dhara began her career in local government and has worked across a broad range of policy areas from civil society and community building to scrutiny, local democracy and deliberative decision making. She has also been an active member of a number of Government and academic advisory boards and stakeholder groups.