Dr Philip E. Lewis

CEO and Founder, VaasaETT Ltd Ab Oy

Board Member, SEDC (Smart Energy Demand Coalition)                              

Dr Lewis is a World leading expert of all issues relating to customer behaviour and psychology in energy and utilities markets, including loyalty & switching, pricing, smart energy demand and the broader issues of competition and marketing.

During 16 years in the liberalized utilities industry Dr Lewis has conducted research and strategic support in over 50 countries in four continents for a diverse array of over 400 utilities and other key market players including for instance Shell, E.ON, EDF, Panasonic, British Gas, Duke Energy, ABB, BC Hydro and Dong.

As its CEO and founder, Dr Lewis has also led VaasaETT to become a world leading source of expertise, data and analysis on a range of issues including utility customer loyalty and switching trends, residential household electricity and gas prices, effective demand response and smart grid programmes and effective competition and marketing in liberalised energy markets.

Formerly head of Marketing Research and Analysis for the UK based retailing subsidiary of Amoco and (now) Edf, during the onset of full competition in the British retail energy market, Dr Lewis was also founder and chief of the Finnish based University of Vaasa Energy Markets Group (VaasaEMG) prior to founding VaasaETT.

Dr Lewis has additionally worked extensively at an industry and market-wide level, having for instance provided projects for the European Commission and European Union, E-Control (Austrian energy market regulator), CRIEPI (Central Research Institute of the Electric Power Industry of Japan), DECC (Department of Environment and Climate Change, UK), Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC), Energy Retailers of Australia Association (ERAA), Government of Tasmania and the European Smart Meter Industry Group (ESMIG). He has also lead and written three major benchmarking and advisory reports for e.g. the European Regulator’s Group for Electricity and Gas (ERGEG), two major projects including a major cost-benefit analysis for the Nordic Energy Retailers (NordREG), and various other major national market efficiency/status/evaluation reports. Dr Lewis has also provided opinion and advice for the EU and various other governmental organizations around the world.

Dr Lewis is a globally renowned expert in the field of customer switching and loyalty. His World Energy Retail Market Rankings report is the leading authority on customer switching trends and analysis around the world, and his definition of customer switching has been adopted as the norm within Europe and Australia (by the European Energy Regulators Group for Electricity & Gas – ERGREG -, CEER, as well as the Energy Retailers of Australia Association). He is also founder and director of The Utility Customer Switching Research Project (see: www.utilitycustomerswitching.com) and SwitchStats Australia (the only long-term Australian project collecting and analysing switching data directly from all the leading Australian energy retailers – conducted in close collaboration with the ERAA and Australian retailers).

In the field of billing and CRM/CIS, Dr Lewis has worked extensively for and partnered with many leading organizations including for instance Hansen Technologies / Peace Software, Convergys (NEC’s Netcracker) and SAP. Dr Lewis’ expertise in customer behaviour and psychology, demand response and billing has resulted in a focus on taking billing into the smart future. In 2011 Dr Lewis was commissioned by the Nordic Energy Regulators (NordREG) to be the sole analyst, consultant and report writer in a public consultation process and detailed cost-benefit analysis considering and proposing alternative billing regimes for the Common Nordic Energy Initiative led by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

In the fields of Smart Metering, Demand Response, Eco Home and Smart Grid, Dr Lewis has for instance directed the world leading Respond 2010 best practice project, been a keynote speaker and keynote chairman at the world’s largest metering event (Metering/Billing/CRM Europe), advised utilities and other interest groups around the world, has directed and collaborated in many of the world’s leading best practice projects in the field of smart energy demand, demand response and smart grid and has been at the strategic forefront of some of the world’s most advanced commercial smart home developments. Dr Lewis is also a Director and Board Member of the Smart Energy Demand Coalition (SEDC).

Dr Lewis has also served on many committees, advisory groups (for commercial and non-profit, governmental and NGO organizations) and publications such as the ‘WWF (European Policy Office) Green Power Partnership Advisory Committee’, ‘Distribution Europe’, ‘European Utility Awards’ and the ‘International Utility CIO of the Year Awards’. He was  founding chief editor of the book ‘The Energyforum Global Report’, is a co-writer of the renowned Capgemini European Energy Markets Observatory, and has chaired and co-organized more than 80 high level seminars/conferences.

On a scientific level, Dr Lewis holds a PhD in Marketing (specialising in service marketing, customer psychology and behaviour issues) from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, was formerly an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Vaasa in Finland, has written in numerous academic publications and has been on the editorial board of the European ‘Energy Efficiency’ Journal published by Springer. Dr Lewis has also been a visiting and Executive MBA lecturer for various institutions such as the University of St.Gallen in Switzerland and the Helsinki School of Economics in Finland.

Dr Lewis developed his graduate marketing expertise in the banking sector with American Express Bank in Frankfurt and National Westminster Bank in London.

Phone: +358449066820

Jessica Strömbäck

Senior Director and Chairman; Executive Director, SEDC

Jessica is a founder and Executive Director of the Smart Energy Demand Coalition (SEDC).  As Director she actively works actively with European policy makers to enable demand side participation throughout European energy markets.

She is Chairman at VaasaETT, Global Energy Think Tank based in Finland.  She specializes in smart metering and demand response as well as market structure and requirements for demand side program development.  She is a co-founder of the Retailers Taskforce working under the Smart Grids Technology Platform for the European Commission.   She has acted as research director or participated in multiple research projects. She has acted as project manager for such projects as ‘SG4-GHG’ measuring the potential of the Smart Grid to lower green house gas emissions around Europe, ‘Empower Demand’ comparing 100 residential pilot projects according to 23 variables involving over 450,000 households and ‘Respond 2010’ an 18 month multi-client study reviewing the development of residential Smart Metering and Demand Response in 23 national markets.

Phone: +358449066821

Christophe Dromacque

Head of Analysis
Christophe has been a market analyst at VaasaETT since 2007. He is specialised in several market analysis fields including smart grid, demand response and market pricing issues. Christophe has worked as a key researcher for clients such as ADEME / World Energy Council, NUON, Panasonic, Capgemini, EDF and ONZO.

Languages Spoken: French and English.

Phone: +358449066822

Andy White

Chief Information Officer
Andy has worked at VaasaETT since 2008. Andy has more than ten years experience in sales and marketing systems, having worked on a wide range of projects in both the public and private sector.

Phone: +448713157334

Johan Dams

Expert: IT and Systems
Johan has been active at VaasaETT since its very beginning and is at the heart of VaasaETTs knowledge of IT and systems. In addition to his role in VaasaETT, Johan is a highly respected published researcher and involved in many projects around the world (for organizations even including Harvard University) in the fields of cryptography, robotics, embedded systems, software engineering and development, systems and security, machine vision and learning, software team managementand many others. He has been a lecturer at the Vaasa University and Vaasa University of Applied Sciences in Finland and has given guest lectures at leading Universities all over the world. He has also headed a software division as Director of Software for a company active in the development of ARM-processor based computing platforms in the United States. In this function, he also participated in a DARPA funded project for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Languages Spoken:  English, Dutch, French, German, Spanish, Russian.

Phone: +358504060902

Sasha Bermann

Marketing and PR Manager

Sasha joined VaasaETT in 2013, having previously worked in a variety of communications, PR and consultancy roles in Brussels and Denmark. Sasha manages VaasaETT’s growing global presence. She holds an MA from the prestigious Copenhagen Business School.

Languages Spoken: Danish, English, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian

Johanna Öberg

Associate Events and Sponsorship Manager

Johanna Öberg is the founder of Energy Expert Network and a specialist in creating strong, solid networks, business development and marketing. Formerly a senior executive with Energyforum, Johanna puts her passion for people at the forefront of all her projects. Starting out in sales at Vattenfall, Europe’s fifth largest generator of electricity and the largest producer of heat, Johanna quickly rose through the ranks and was entrusted with special responsibilities, including the organization of a number of conferences at the United Nations in New York City. Johanna’s wealth of experience in the energy sector combined with her organizational acumen at the UN led led her to work with
business development and organizing courses for the energy industry.

Languages spoken: Swedish and English

Phone: +46(0)708556562

Kristel Sokk

Administrative Manager

Languages Spoken: Estonian, English, Russian and Finnish

Phone: +358449066824