Appointments to the Board of the Utility Regulator

The Department of Finance has announced the appointment of two new members to the Board of the Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation (the Utility Regulator), Mr David de Casseres and Mrs Claire Williams.

Both members have been appointed to serve on the Board for a seven year term, commencing 1 May 2019.

Notes to editors: 

1. The Utility Regulator is the non-ministerial government department responsible for regulating the electricity and gas industries as well as water and sewerage services in Northern Ireland.  It protects the short and long term interests of consumers of electricity, gas and water. 
2. Mr David de Casseres is a chartered engineer with over forty years of experience in the electricity industry. He also holds qualifications in law, finance and business administration, and has spent the last 25 years in business developments roles. David was Chief Executive of the Huntstown Power Company (Viridian Group) and led the development, financing, construction and operation of the first fully independent major power station in the Republic of Ireland. In 2008 he joined NIE in Belfast to take responsibility for transmission development, and this role (which was later transferred to SONI) included leadership of the team working to deliver substantial new infrastructure to support renewable generation, as well as the new 400kV North-South Interconnector. Since early retirement in 2017, he has been working as a Business Development Consultant. Mr de Casseres does not hold any other public appointments. 
3. Mrs Claire Williams has held senior positions in the electricity, renewable energy and rail industries for over 20 years. She also holds a Masters in Law from Cambridge University. Claire is currently Director of Legal & the Company Secretary (CS) for both the Low Carbon Contracts Company (the counterparty to Contracts for Difference under the CFD regime) and for the Electricity Settlements Company (the organisation managing settlement in the GB Capacity Market). Prior to this, Claire was Group General Counsel & CS for the Carbon Trust and worked on its government grant portfolio, UK and international advisory work and venture capital investments portfolio. She also served as a director of Carbon Trust International Ltd. Before this she served as Head of Legal & CS for Elexon where she was heavily involved in the GB electricity balancing and settlement mechanism and also responsible for managing the Association of Power Exchanges (APEx), an organisation providing a forum for international gas and electricity pools, grids and power exchanges. Mrs Williams does not hold any other public appointments. 
4. The appointments were made in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland’s Code of Practice.   
5. These appointments are part time roles attracting an annual remuneration of £9,712. 
6. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, the Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland requires the political activity of appointees to be published.  Mr David de Casseres and Mrs Claire Williams declared that they had not engaged in any political activity in the last five years. 
7. All media queries to DoF Press Office on either 028 9081 6895 or 028 9081 6724. Email: dof.pressoffice@finance-ni.gov.uk. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Office on 028 9037 8110. 
8. Follow us on Twitter @dptfinance

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