The Minister of Finance and Economic Management, Honorable John Dahmassing Salong has appointed Mr. Jesse Benjamin as the new Chief Executive Officer and Part-Time Commissioner of the Utilities Regulatory Authority (URA) for a 3-year term commencing from the 19th of August 2024.

On the 8th of August, Mr Benjamin signs his employment contract with the Honorable Minister of Finance in the presence of the Chairperson of the URA Commission, Mr Jean Chaniel, Managers and staff of the URA.

The recommendation and nomination of Mr Benjamin to be appointed as the Chief Executive Officer and Part-time Commission was through an independent and competitive recruitment process by an independent Evaluation Committee as established under the URA Act. The members of the Evaluation Committee are the Governor of the Reserve Bank, an individual appointed by the Judicial Service Commission and an individual appointed by the Public Service Commission.

As the Chief Executive Officer of the URA, Mr Benjamin will take overall responsibility for carrying out the statutory responsibilities of the URA under the Utilities Regulatory Authority Act No.11 of 2007 (as amended) which includes strategic and policy development as well as day-to-day management and regulatory functions of the URA.

The new CEO Jesse Benjamin will lead the next stages of development and deliverables of the URA in line with URA’s Five Year Strategic and Action Plan 2022 - 2026.

Mr Benjamin has over 18 years of working experience holding various senior positions at the national, regional and international level with strong focus on energy, environment, climate change, inclusive green growth and sustainable development.

Before Mr Benjamin’s appointment, he was the Senior Program Officer for the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) Vanuatu Office. He was in charge of developing substantive inputs and analysis to the development, delivery and assessment of work programmes and activities in Vanuatu including organizing programme activities and managing effective programme reporting and communication with Government stakeholders and development partners.

Mr. Benjamin was the Program Delivery Officer for the Pacific Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (PCREEE) based in the Kingdom of Tonga from 2019 to 2021. At PCREEE, he supported the tariff review process for the Tonga Electricity Commission. The PCREEE is a center of excellence and the regional vehicle to support Pacific Island Countries and Territories to achieve their renewable energy and energy efficiency ambitions.

Prior to this, Mr Benjamin was the Director General for the Ministry of Climate Change in Vanuatu and the operational focal point for various international organizations such as Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). He was instrumental in the development and review of the National Energy Road Map 2016 – 2030 and the establishment of the National Green Energy Fund. Furthermore, Mr. Benjamin was the Director of Energy Department for several years before taking on the Director General role.

Mr Benjamin’s vast experience in regional and international organization is much needed at this time to take URA forward for the next three years in not only Vanuatu, but in the involvement of URA in Office of the Pacific Energy Regulators Alliance (OPERA), a new regional body co-founder by the URA, the Tonga Energy Commission and the Samoa Enerhy Commission.

In his remarks during the signing ceremony, the Honorable Minister congratulated Mr Bejamin to his new role as the Chief Executive Officer of the URA and also thanked the URA team present for the great work that they have been doing so far. The Hon. Minister also stressed the importance for the new CEO to ensure regulation of electricity and water utilities in Vanuatu is carried out in a more efficient manner and also to assist the Government in finding a clear pathway and a solution to adopting increased use of technologies that generate renewable energy in each of the regulated network grids.

In his response, Mr Benjamin stated that he is honored to be nominated for appointment as URA’s Chief Executive Officer. He recognized the expertise of the existing local staff in the different disciplines currently employed at the Authority and that he is looking forward to working with his new team to continue to carry out URA’s mandate. The new CEO also emphasized his commitment improve and maintain stakeholder relations, particularly with the regulated utilities inorder to continually contribute Vanuatu’s economic growth.

Mr Benjamin is a Master Degree holder, specialising in the field of Engineering majoring in Energy Policy and Planning from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) and is also a Bachelor Degree holder in Electrical Engineering from the University of the South Pacific.