On the Move: Utility Warehouse; Ovo; Cadent; Centrica

In our latest round-up of industry appointments, Utility Warehouse brings in a new chief operating officer and Ovo’s acquisition of an EV charging app sees two new additions to its team. Elsewhere, gas network operator Cadent has unveiled the chair of its Customer Challenge Group, trade body the Carbon Capture Storage Association has also announced a new chair and Centrica makes two non-executive director appointments.

Utility Warehouse

Multi-utility provider Utility Warehouse has appointed the former head of smart meters at British Gas as its new chief operating officer.

Rob Harris has experience across both the energy and finance sectors, having previously led the entire commercial and domestic engineering operation for British Gas, a role in which he was accountable for a £1.5 billion annual budget.

Previously, he led smart energy, metering and installations as VP, where he was responsible for the smart energy transition for the supplier.

Prior to this, Harris spent 12 years working at Barclays, where he was most recently managing director of mortgages.

Commenting on his new role, Harris said: “It’s a hugely exciting time to join UW with the business enjoying one of the strongest periods of growth in its history. My priority will be to ensure we deliver an outstanding customer experience as we head towards our millionth customer next year and set our sights on welcoming a further million customers over the medium term.”

Utility Warehouse recently revealed that Stuart Burnett will become the company’s sole chief executive next summer, with co-chief Andrew Lindsay intending to step down from his role after 16 years with the business.

Cadent

Angela Love has been appointed as the independent chair of Cadent’s new Customer Challenge Group which will “champion and challenge customer innovation, service and future strategy”.

The gas network operator said the group will play a “pivotal role” in the development of its next regulatory business plan.

Love, who is the former director of gas communications and European affairs at the Energy Networks Association, is already chair of the GB Smart Energy Code Panel and Board and the independent chair of the SP Energy Networks Independent Net Zero Advisory Council.

She is also a non-executive director of the Northern Ireland System Operator SONI and an independent consultant.

Love began her 30-year career at Scottish Power in commercial and financial roles, latterly as UK strategy and external affairs manager for the energy supplier’s non-price regulated businesses. She was also a utilities consultant for 13 years and her additional previous roles include chair of the gas forum and director of future markets and engagement at Elexon.

Commenting on her appointment, she said: “As the UK prepares for the energy transition, I’m delighted to be joining Cadent’s new Customer Challenge Group. With a strong industry track record in delivering customer service, I’m looking forward to getting an in-depth understanding of the operation and how the group and I can help to drive even more customer innovation.

“One of the things that most attracted me to the new role was Cadent’s dedication to supporting customers living in vulnerable situations and I found several synergies between its work in this area and my own passion and experience, which includes being a Trustee of the Gas Safe Charity and a former member of Ofgem’s Stakeholder Engagement and Customer Vulnerability Panel.”

Carbon Capture Storage Association (CCSA)

Trade body, the Carbon Capture Storage Association (CCSA), has appointed RWE UK country chair Tom Glover as the new chair to its board, alongside seven newly appointed directors.

Glover’s career at RWE spans more than two decades and he has previously served as the company’s chief commercial officer and chief financial officer.

Commenting on his new role, Glover said: “It is a huge privilege to have been elected as chair of the CCSA at such a pivotal time for the industry’s advancement. I am eager to leverage my knowledge and experience as the country chair for RWE to lead the CCSA board, alongside other exceptional directors from across the industry.”

The other newly-elected CCSA directors include:

• Edita Adamcikova – ESG director, Viridor
• Jonathan Briggs – director of project development & delivery, VPI Power (re-appointed)
• Pierre Girard – director of new energy, Neptune Energy
• Shirley Oliveira – vice president of hydrogen and CCUS regulatory affairs, bp (re-appointed)
• Amy Ruddock – vice president, Europe & Middle East, Carbon Engineering Ltd
• George Whittaker – general manager, energy transition, Bechtel Corporation
• Peter Whitton – chair, Progressive Energy (re-appointed)

Ovo

The founders of public electric vehicle (EV) charging app Bonnet have joined Ovo following the supplier’s acquisition of the app.

Bonnet acts as an aggregator which has more than 80% of the UK’s public charge points available on the app. EV drivers have access to over 27,000 chargers at 7,000 locations. They can locate, use and pay for public charge points without switching between different cards or logins.

As part of the acquisition, Ovo has announced that Bonnet’s co-founders Patrick Reich and Eliot Makabu have joined the company where they will lead this part of the business.

Patrick Reich, chief executive and co-founder of Bonnet, said: “This is an exhilarating moment for Bonnet and our team. We have long admired Ovo and what they’ve been doing to make owning an EV as easy as possible. At Bonnet, we share this mission, and since we launched in 2021 we’ve made charging publicly across the UK and Europe simpler and more reliable for our more than 150,000 engaged drivers and their families.

“Our driver community has always been at the heart of every move we’ve made – from product updates to our strategic direction – and we know partnering with Ovo is going to unlock new opportunities, such as new features and integrations to people’s homes.”

Centrica

Centrica has appointed two non-executive directors to its board.

Jo Harlow and Sue Whalley will take up their roles from 1 December. They will also become members of the company’s Remuneration Committee and Nominations Committee.

Harlow has well over two decades’ experience working in various senior roles, predominantly in the branded and technology sectors.

Prior to her non-executive career, she was the corporate vice president of the Phones Business Unit at Microsoft and previously spent 11 years at Nokia Corporation in a number of senior management roles, including executive vice president of Smart Devices.

She currently serves as non-executive director and Remuneration Committee chair at InterContinental Hotels Group and J Sainsbury, and as senior independent director and Remuneration Committee chair at Halma. She is also a non-executive director at Chapter Zero.

She will be retiring from the board of InterContinental on 31 December.

Whalley meanwhile has served as chief people and performance officer at Associated British Foods (ABF) since 2019. Prior to this, she spent 12 years at Royal Mail Group, where she held a number of executive roles including chief executive of the Post & Parcels division and chief operations officer. Before that, she was a partner at McKinsey where she spent almost 18 years in management consultancy.