Reappointment of Utility Regulator Board member

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 serves to protect the interests of consumers with regard to both price and quality of service.

2. Ms Teresa Perchard joined the Utility Regulator as non-executive member on 1 September 2013.

3. Ms Perchard has more than 30 years’ experience of consumer affairs policy and advocacy in a number of markets. Until June 2013 she was Director of Policy and Advocacy at Citizens Advice, where she worked for more than 13 years.  Ms Perchard now holds a number of non-executive and advisory roles concerned with consumer protection and regulation.  These include Chair of the Affinity Water Customer Scrutiny Group, and Council member of the Council for Licensed Conveyancers in England and Wales.  She is also Chair of the Fairbanking Foundation.  Until April 2018 she was Consumer Champion for CIGA, the Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency across the UK.   Until March 2015 she was Vice-Chair of the UK Government’s Fuel Poverty Advisory Group (England) and was a member of that group for 10 years.

4. The Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland requires the political activity of appointees to be published.  Ms Perchard declared that she had canvassed on behalf of a Scottish Conservative candidate during the Edinburgh City Council elections and attended the count in May 2017.

5. The position attracts an annual remuneration of £9,712.

6. The Department may take photographs and videos at announcements and events to publicise its work. Photographs, interviews, videos or other recordings may be issued to media organisations for publicity purposes or used in promotional material, including in publications, newspapers, magazines, other print media, on television, radio and electronic media (including social media and the internet). Photographs and videos will also be stored on the Department's internal records management system. The Department will keep the photographs and recordings for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which they have been obtained. The Department's Privacy Policy is available on our website.

7. Media enquiries should be addressed to the Department of Finance Press Office on Tel: 028 9081 6895/028 90 816727 or email dof.pressoffice@finance-ni.gov.uk.Out of office hours please contact the duty press officer on 028 9037 8110. Follow us on Twitter @dptfinance