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Philip Cullum will speak in January at Utility Week's Energy Customer Conference 2015. As the CMA inquiry into the energy market forges ahead, he will explain Ofgem's agenda of customer-centred work and his confidence in the organisation. People & Opinion Utility Week community Speaker's corner Philip Cullum, partner for consumer and data insight, Ofgem Personal notes What has been the most successful or challenging experience in your career? I'm particularly proud of the impact I had a few years ago helping to cut the price of phone calls from prisons. This had long been a failing market, with pris- oners paying way over the odds. The Prison Reform Trust drew it to the attention of the National Consumer Council, where I was acting chief executive. I approved an action to refer the market to Ofcom, despite being warned off the issue. Ofcom's investigation ultimately led to significant price cuts. Evidence suggests prisoners are less likely to reoffend if they stay in contact with their family. Identify five people you would invite to your dream dinner party and why? My great uncle Alex Eadie. A remarkable man who made a difference, Alex was a miner who became a Labour MP and energy minister. He was like me a keen football supporter, so we'd have plenty to discuss if the political chat ran out. My former Accenture col- league John Glen, now a Con- servative MP, but once I was his line manager. My friend Aileen McHarg, professor of public law at Strathclyde University. We were law students in Edinburgh an awful long time ago and she's a scarily bright thinker on gov- ernment and regulation. Dame Sheila McKechnie – I worked with Sheila when I was at Which?. She was a big Find out more about the Energy Customer Conference, sponsored by Steria, at: www.uw-energycustomer.net UTILITY WEEK | 17th - 23rD OctOBer 2014 | 7i "Investors are shying away from the European energy sector" Pierre Guiollot, chief financial officer, GDF Suez Energy International, speaking at KPMG's Global Power and Utilities Conference "If you put in so many interventions, you can expect the market to fail… The market is better at resource allocation than governments" Joan MacNaughton, executive chair, World Energy Trilemma for the World Energy Council, speaking at KPMG's Global Power and Utilities Conference "Every year Scotland covers an area the size of Dunfermline with development. This has massive implications for water management" Professor Bob Ferrier, director of research impact, James Hutton Institute, speaking at Water Scotland The internet of things According to research by KPMG, 70 per cent of consumers feel it is "easy for things to go wrong" in a market flooded by interconnected devices. However, 48 per cent welcomed the idea that smart meters could save energy and money. personality and a campaigner driven by passion and deter- mination to take on vested interests. Finally, Lord (Michael) Young of Dartington. I never met him but he was a founder of Which?, the National Con- sumer Council, and the Open University. I'm assuming that my wife Catherine, who like me has devoted much of her work- ing life to consumer issues, will be there, too. Name four items you keep on your desk. My mug, which reads "Do what you love, love what you do". A tiny green plastic statue of the 18th century political theorist and revolutionary Thomas Paine, made out of recycled milk bottle tops. He was based for a time in Lewes, where I now live, and this captures the town's unique culture per- fectly. An old certificate for ten shares in Dunfermline Athletic. A picture of my two young children playing in the waves on a beach in Portugal. "Ofgem is single- mindedly focused on protecting the interests of current and future consumers, reflecting the nature of energy as an essential service."