Good Energy CEO to step down after 20 years

Good Energy chief executive Juliet Davenport has announced she will step down from her role at the company she founded more than 20 years ago.

Davenport, who created the renewable energy retailer in 1999, will take up a non-executive director position with the company as well as its subsidiary Zap-Map.

Good Energy was an early pioneer in small-scale renewables and created HomeGen in 2004 which paid independent generators for all the energy they use. This, Good Energy says, laid the foundations for what became the Feed-in Tariff scheme.

Since then the company has developed more than 50MW of solar and wind assets and recently announced new capabilities in electric vehicles, spearheaded by subsidiary Zap-Map, in the strategic development of a mobility as a service model.

A recognisable figure within the sector, Davenport has often been outspoken in her views on companies failing to pay their renewables obligation (RO) and relying on industry to pick up the mutualised costs.

Davenport will remain in position until her replacement is found and the company has employed an executive search firm to recruit a new chief executive.

Speaking about her departure, she said: “I’m immensely proud of Good Energy and the work that it has done in transforming the UK energy horizon, leading on decentralised energy, innovating in green funding and challenging the market at every step to become zero carbon.

“As the industry moves from a world of megawatts to megabytes it is time to bring a fresh approach to taking the company forward, making it an optimal time for this transition. I look forward to supporting the new CEO when they are appointed to assist with the transition to a true mid 21st century energy as a service business, in a world moving faster towards zero carbon.”