Hiring Senior Executives for Energy and Utilities

The UK energy and utilities sector is going through the most consequential period of change in its modern history. The Clean Power 2030 mission, the move from fossil fuels to renewables, the decarbonisation of heat and transport, record network investment under Ofgem’s RIIO-3 price control, and a wholesale reform of water regulation that will see Ofwat replaced by a new single regulator together create a leadership environment that is technically demanding, commercially complex and politically exposed. Senior executives who can operate well at that intersection are scarce, and boards compete hard for them.

This guide explains the senior hiring dynamics in UK energy and utilities: the major sub-sectors, the regulatory framework that shapes every senior appointment, where the candidates come from, and how to run a search in a market where the best people are rarely looking. It draws on the work Exec Capital does on energy and utilities executive recruitment across electricity, gas, water and renewables.

Energy and utilities leadership hiring is more sector-specific than most. The regulatory framework, the capital structure and the technical demands of running a large regulated energy or water business are not quickly learned by someone arriving from an adjacent industry. The strongest senior appointments in this sector usually come from within the sector’s own talent circuit, with targeted cross-sector moves for specific functional roles such as technology, customer, finance transformation and capital delivery. Getting that balance right — knowing when sector depth is non-negotiable and when a fresh perspective is worth the learning curve — is the single most important judgement in the brief.

The regulatory affairs appointment deserves particular attention. At an Ofgem- or Ofwat-regulated business, the Regulatory Affairs Director shapes the commercial framework within which everything else operates. A well-evidenced price control submission can materially improve a company’s allowed revenues and investment headroom for a full regulatory period; a weak one can constrain investment and earnings for years. This is not an advisory or stakeholder management role. It is a core commercial leadership appointment that deserves the same rigour as the CEO or CFO search.

The UK Energy and Utilities Regulatory Framework

All major UK energy and utilities businesses operate under detailed economic regulation that shapes their commercial model, investment decisions and governance in ways that have no real parallel in unregulated industries. Understanding this framework is the foundation of effective senior hiring in the sector, because it defines what “good” looks like in almost every leadership role.

Ofgem and the RIIO framework. The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets regulates Great Britain’s electricity and gas networks through the RIIO (Revenue = Incentives + Innovation + Outputs) price control model. Ofgem published its RIIO-3 final determinations for electricity transmission, gas distribution and gas transmission in December 2025, and RIIO-3 took effect from April 2026. Electricity distribution remains under RIIO-ED2 until 2028, with work on the next distribution control already under way. Each determination sets allowed revenues, totex allowances, performance targets and incentive mechanisms for the period. Senior executives at network companies need a genuine command of how totex is set, how uncertainty mechanisms release funding for new investment, how output delivery incentives work and how the company’s cost of capital is determined. That knowledge cannot be picked up in the first months of a new role; it is a prerequisite for credible strategic leadership at a regulated network.

Ofwat and the Price Review. The Water Services Regulation Authority regulates water and sewerage companies in England and Wales through periodic Price Reviews. PR24 set allowed revenues, investment programmes and performance commitments for 2025 to 2030, and several companies sought redetermination by the Competition and Markets Authority. Water company executives work within performance commitments on leakage, supply interruptions, pollution incidents, storm overflows and customer service, with outcome delivery incentives rewarding outperformance and penalising underperformance. The financial difficulties at Thames Water and the wider debate about highly leveraged balance sheets have pushed the CFO, treasury and financial governance roles at water companies to the top of the board agenda. Ofwat is now due to be abolished and replaced by a new integrated water regulator, covered in more detail below, but until that body is established in law Ofwat remains the economic regulator and PR24 remains the settlement companies are delivering.

Energy security and net zero. The government’s Clean Power 2030 mission and the legal commitment to net zero by 2050 set a long-term transformation agenda that energy leaders must build into strategic planning. Offshore and onshore wind, solar, grid-scale battery storage, interconnectors, hydrogen, carbon capture and flexible demand are all strategic investment areas that require specific leadership capabilities, and successive Contracts for Difference allocation rounds shape the economics of new generation. The policy direction has moved from targets to delivery: connection reform, faster planning decisions and strategic spatial energy planning are now as important to a developer’s strategy as the subsidy regime.

The Environment Agency and environmental compliance. Environmental permit conditions, discharge consents, the Environmental Permitting Regulations and the Environment Act 2021 create ongoing compliance obligations for energy and water businesses. Non-compliance can lead to operational restrictions, significant financial penalties and, increasingly, personal consequences for senior people. Reputational damage is felt more sharply in politically visible utility sectors than in most commercial businesses, and boards now expect operational leaders to own environmental performance rather than delegating it to a compliance team.

Senior Roles Most Commonly Recruited

CEO and Managing Director. The CEO of a major UK energy or water company must run technically complex infrastructure, work within detailed economic regulation, respond to political and media scrutiny and drive a transformation agenda at the same time. Sector-specific CEO appointments are the norm. Successful transitions from genuinely unrelated backgrounds are uncommon, and the brief should be honest about whether a cross-sector candidate can meet the regulatory credibility requirement without a transition period the business cannot afford. Where the business is a smaller developer, independent supplier or infrastructure services company, the balance shifts: commercial and growth capability can matter more than regulatory depth.

Regulatory Affairs Director. The regulatory function at an Ofgem- or Ofwat-regulated business is one of the most commercially significant senior roles in the sector. The Regulatory Affairs Director manages the regulatory relationship, builds the price control business plan and its evidence base, and engages on framework design in the company’s interest. The role needs deep framework knowledge, commercial modelling capability and the advocacy skills to engage regulators, government and other stakeholders through evidence rather than lobbying. Because a price control runs for several years, the quality of the submission compounds across the whole period. In water, the move to a new regulator with a supervisory model makes this role even more important, as the regulatory relationship becomes continuous rather than periodic.

Asset and Capital Investment Director. Energy and utilities businesses are capital-intensive infrastructure businesses, and the investment programmes now being delivered are the largest the sector has seen in a generation. The Director of Asset Management or Capital Investment is responsible for the decisions that determine the network’s long-term performance and efficiency. Managing the tension between short-term cost efficiency, which regulators incentivise, and long-term asset resilience, which drives reliability and environmental performance, is the central challenge of the role. Supply chain capacity is now a constraint in its own right, so candidates who have secured contractor and equipment capacity in a tight market bring real value.

Energy Transition and Net Zero Director. Many large energy and utility businesses have created dedicated transition leadership roles responsible for decarbonisation strategy, low-carbon investment and the regulatory engagement the net zero agenda requires. Candidates are drawn from traditional energy backgrounds and from specialist renewable development experience. These roles sit close to the sustainability agenda, and the guide to hiring a Chief Sustainability Officer covers how boards should scope that overlapping appointment.

CFO and Finance Director. Energy and utilities finance is a specialist discipline. Regulatory accounting, Regulated Asset Value (RAV or RCV) management, project finance for major transmission or distribution investment, and the financial modelling of multi-decade infrastructure decisions are sector-specific requirements that should be assessed directly. In water, financial resilience has become a regulatory and political issue, and the CFO must be able to explain gearing, dividend policy and covenant headroom to a regulator and a select committee as well as to lenders. The energy retail CFO role adds commodity risk management — hedging energy procurement against retail price obligations — and the capital adequacy requirements Ofgem has introduced for suppliers since the 2021–22 market failures.

Head of Customer and Retail. For energy suppliers, customer experience and retention have become primary differentiators in a market that has seen dramatic consolidation. The Customer Director at a large supplier manages very large customer bases across digital and telephony channels, balancing cost-to-serve against the service quality that drives retention and regulatory standing. Since the energy price crisis, the treatment of customers in vulnerable circumstances, debt management and fair treatment have become board-level accountabilities, and Ofgem’s supervision of supplier conduct has intensified.

Clean Power 2030, NESO and Great British Energy

Three relatively new institutional features of the GB energy system now shape senior hiring across generation, networks and supply, and any executive joining the sector needs a working understanding of each.

The Clean Power 2030 mission. The government’s Clean Power 2030 Action Plan sets out a path for clean sources to provide the overwhelming majority of Great Britain’s electricity generation by 2030, backed by reform of grid connections, planning and the supply chain. For employers, the practical effect is that delivery capability — getting projects consented, connected and built — is now the scarcest skill set in the market. Project directors, grid connection specialists, consenting leads and capital programme directors are in demand across developers, networks and the supply chain at the same time.

The National Energy System Operator. NESO was established as a publicly owned body in October 2024 under the Energy Act 2023, taking over the electricity system operator role from National Grid and adding whole-system planning responsibilities across electricity and gas. NESO now leads strategic network planning and the reformed connections process, which affects the investment decisions of every developer and network company. Executives who understand how NESO’s planning outputs translate into network investment and connection offers are particularly valuable in developer and network roles.

Great British Energy. The Great British Energy Act 2025 created a publicly owned company, headquartered in Aberdeen, to invest in and develop clean energy projects, including local and community energy. Great British Energy is both a new employer of senior energy talent and a new co-investor and partner for private developers, local authorities and public bodies. Leaders who can work with a public investor — understanding its governance, its objectives and its approvals process — are increasingly useful on the private side of joint ventures.

Taken together, these changes mean that the brief for many energy roles now includes public-sector partnership, system-planning literacy and delivery at pace, alongside the commercial and technical capabilities that have always defined the sector.

Candidate Profile and Where Talent Comes From

The energy and utilities talent pool is mainly produced by the sector’s major employers: the transmission and distribution network operators, the large generators and suppliers, the regional water and sewerage companies, and the regulators and system operator themselves. Ofgem, Ofwat and NESO produce excellent regulatory, analytical and commercial talent, and people who have sat on the regulator’s side of a price control are often highly effective in company regulatory roles. The sector’s technical and regulatory complexity creates barriers to entry that limit cross-sector movement into the most senior operational and regulatory roles.

Oil and gas professionals are a significant and growing transition population. The engineering, project management, offshore operations and commercial skills developed in the North Sea apply directly to offshore wind, hydrogen and carbon capture projects, and several of the large oil and gas operators are themselves major UK renewable developers, so moves within the same employer are increasingly common. The companion Renewable Energy Executive Hiring guide covers this population in detail.

Regulatory consulting firms — the large professional services firms and specialist energy and water economics consultancies — produce regulatory specialists who have built deep framework knowledge through client advisory work. The move from consultant to in-house Regulatory Affairs Director is common and often successful, although these candidates usually need development on the political, stakeholder and line management dimensions of an in-house role that advisory work does not replicate.

Infrastructure investors, the major engineering contractors and the large consultancies that support capital programmes are a further source, particularly for capital delivery, commercial and finance roles. Candidates from infrastructure funds bring a clear understanding of how owners judge value, which is useful in businesses preparing for refinancing, a stake sale or a change of control.

Managing Senior Transitions in the Energy Sector

Senior transitions in energy and utilities need careful management because the regulatory and operational context is complex enough that a new executive cannot be fully effective until they have absorbed it. The onboarding investment for a new CEO or regulatory director is proportionally higher than in most sectors, and it should be planned explicitly rather than treated as a generic induction. Our executive onboarding guide sets out the general principles; the energy-specific points are below.

A new CEO’s first 90 days should include structured briefings on the regulatory framework from the Regulatory Affairs Director; a review of the current price control position and outstanding submissions; early meetings with the regulator’s relationship team; site visits to major infrastructure assets; and conversations with the main shareholders and lenders about their view of the company’s regulatory and strategic position. Without that structured context, the CEO is leading a business they do not yet understand, which creates governance risk and personal effectiveness risk.

For water companies, the heightened political and media scrutiny of the sector — following storm overflow failures, river water quality concerns and controversy over dividends and executive pay — means a new CEO’s first public statements and regulatory engagements carry consequences that most private sector appointments do not. Media preparation and regulatory stakeholder briefings belong in the first week, not month three. With the transition to a new water regulator under way, incoming leaders also need an early briefing on how the company is preparing for the new supervisory model.

Handover matters too. Regulated businesses often have long notice periods and, for senior roles, garden leave arrangements. Where the gap between the outgoing and incoming executive would leave a price control submission, a major programme or a regulatory investigation without senior ownership, boards should plan interim cover early rather than hoping the timing works out.

Running the Search and Compensation

Energy and utilities senior searches need sub-sector-specific engagement. The most credible candidates are employed by the sector’s major employers and are not actively looking, so direct approach with a clear, honest brief is the primary method. Sub-sector knowledge in the search firm matters: a gas network regulatory search draws on a different network from a water company operations search, and the technical understanding needed to assess candidates credibly differs between them.

A well-run search in this sector usually follows a clear sequence: agree the brief with the board, including which capabilities are essential and which can be developed; map the relevant sub-sector and adjacent pools; approach and assess candidates against evidence of what they have delivered under regulation; take structured references, including from regulators or investors where appropriate; and plan the offer around notice periods, deferred awards and any regulatory constraints on pay.

Compensation is shaped by ownership as much as by role. Listed utilities set executive pay through a remuneration policy approved by shareholders and disclosed in the annual report, and utility pay attracts political scrutiny that most sectors do not face. Unlisted and infrastructure fund-owned businesses typically pay through a mix of salary, annual bonus and long-term incentives linked to regulatory and financial outcomes. In water, the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 now allows performance-related pay for senior executives to be blocked where a company fails required standards, which changes how offers to water company leaders must be structured. Candidates moving from larger businesses will often have unvested deferred awards that need to be considered in any offer. The Executive Compensation Guide gives the broader context on structuring senior packages.

How Exec Capital Approaches Energy and Utilities Appointments

Exec Capital runs senior executive searches for UK energy and utilities businesses across electricity, gas, water and renewables. Our energy and utilities search practice combines direct engagement with senior people at the sector’s major employers with access to adjacent populations for roles where the transition agenda matters as much as traditional sector background. Every search is run by our specialist team, with Adrian Lawrence FCA overseeing each mandate.

We work on permanent appointments and on interim and fractional ones. For businesses that need senior capability quickly — to cover a regulatory submission, lead a capital programme through a critical phase or steady a business under scrutiny — interim executive recruitment often gets the right person in post faster than a permanent search can. We also advise on the sustainability and governance appointments energy businesses increasingly need alongside their operational leadership.

Our approach starts with the brief. We spend time with the board understanding the regulatory position, the investment programme and the stakeholder environment before writing the specification, so that candidates are assessed against the role as it will need to be performed rather than as it was last time it was filled.

Further Reading and Authoritative Sources

Ofgem’s RIIO-3 decision documents and the Ofwat website provide the definitive regulatory framework documentation for networks and water respectively. The government’s water white paper, A New Vision for Water, sets out the planned reform of water regulation following the Independent Water Commission’s review chaired by Sir Jon Cunliffe. The Energy Institute is the main professional body for energy sector professionals, and the trade bodies Energy UK and Water UK publish research on their markets and workforces. The National Audit Office’s value for money studies on regulated industries give an external view of how energy and water governance and investment decisions are performing against regulatory expectations.

For related reading on Exec Capital’s site, the renewable energy, sustainability, onboarding and compensation guides linked in this article cover the adjacent topics most energy boards ask about, and our Knowledge Centre carries role-specific hiring guides for the CEO, CFO, COO and board appointments discussed here.

The Smart Grid and Digitalisation Agenda

The digitalisation of energy infrastructure — smart meters, network management systems, distribution system operation and demand-side response — is creating leadership requirements at network companies and suppliers that did not exist for the previous generation of energy executives. The move from passive distribution networks to active systems, where the network must manage two-way power flows from embedded generation, storage, electric vehicles and heat pumps, needs digital and operational technology expertise that the sector is still building.

Distribution system operation — managing flexibility on the local network — combines network engineering with digital market design, straddling the old boundary between network management and commercial energy markets. Ofgem has pushed for DSO functions to be clearly separated and accountable within distribution businesses, and the executives building this capability are doing so in real time. Senior appointments here need direct evidence of flexibility market or DSO development rather than general network management experience.

Cyber security is a board-level governance concern for energy infrastructure. The Network and Information Systems Regulations 2018 place specific security obligations on operators of essential services in energy and water, and the government has set out plans to strengthen that regime. Malicious interference with energy control systems is treated as a national security issue, and senior technology and security appointments at major energy businesses can involve security vetting and engagement with government security frameworks that differ from standard executive appointments.

Data is the other side of the digital agenda. Network companies, suppliers and the system operator are all investing in data platforms that support planning, flexibility and customer service, and the leaders of those programmes need to bridge operational engineering and modern data practice. Chief Data Officer and Digital Director appointments in energy are often best filled by people who have done this in another infrastructure sector, such as telecoms or transport, combined with strong sector induction.

Electricity Market and Trading

Electricity market expertise — the wholesale market structure, the balancing mechanism, the capacity market, Contracts for Difference allocation rounds and the hedging strategies that manage commodity price exposure — is a specialist capability concentrated in the generation and supply businesses that participate in the GB wholesale market. The Commercial Director or Head of Trading at a large generator or supplier manages commodity price risk on a scale most commercial finance functions never encounter, and the expertise is rarely found outside the market participant community.

The growing share of zero-marginal-cost renewable generation is changing wholesale market dynamics: more frequent periods of very low or negative prices when wind output is high and demand is low, greater weather-driven volatility, and more revenue from flexibility and ancillary services rather than straightforward energy sales. Commercial leaders who understand these dynamics, and can design trading and hedging strategies that work within them, are among the most valuable senior hires in the sector. The government’s decision in 2025 to retain a single national wholesale price rather than move to zonal pricing, alongside reforms to the existing market, gives some stability, but trading leaders still need to plan for continued change in market rules.

Water Sector: Environmental Compliance and Investment

The water sector in England and Wales has faced its most intense period of public and political scrutiny in decades, following failures in storm overflow management, concerns over river water quality and the financial management of highly leveraged balance sheets. Tighter PR24 performance requirements, stronger Environment Agency enforcement, new legal powers over pay and governance, and parliamentary and media attention on dividends and executive pay have created a leadership environment that requires active management of political and reputational risk alongside the technical and regulatory challenges that have always defined the sector.

The Water Environment Regulations, the Environment Act 2021 and the storm overflow reduction targets create long-term environmental investment obligations that will shape capital programmes for decades. The Environment Director or Sustainability Director at a large water company is a genuinely significant role — owning environmental compliance, the environmental investment programme and relationships with the Environment Agency, catchment partnerships and campaign groups. Delivery of the PR24 programme, which is substantially larger than previous periods, also makes capital programme and supply chain leadership a priority hire.

For water company CEO and board appointments, the political context requires candidates who are comfortable with a level of public accountability — select committee appearances, national media interviews, public meetings with affected communities — that most private sector roles do not involve. This is a selection criterion to assess directly, not something to assume from general senior experience.

Water Reform: Bonus Rules, a New Regulator and Director Accountability

Water is the part of the utilities sector where the rules for senior people are changing fastest, and boards hiring into it need to brief candidates accurately on what they are taking on.

Pay and accountability under the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025. The Act gave Ofwat powers to set rules on remuneration and governance, including a ban on performance-related pay for senior executives at companies that fail to meet required standards on environmental performance, customer outcomes, financial resilience or criminal liability. The government announced in June 2025 that bonuses had been blocked at six companies under the new rules. The Act also strengthened fit and proper person requirements for senior people, introduced tougher penalties for obstructing regulators, and required companies to involve customers more directly in governance. For a candidate, this means variable pay in water is now explicitly conditional on regulatory performance, and part of the package may be at risk for reasons outside any one executive’s control.

A new regulator to replace Ofwat. Following the Independent Water Commission’s final report, led by Sir Jon Cunliffe, the government confirmed that Ofwat will be abolished. The January 2026 white paper, A New Vision for Water, sets out plans for a single integrated regulator taking on the water functions of Ofwat, the Drinking Water Inspectorate and the relevant parts of the Environment Agency and Natural England. It proposes company-specific supervisory teams with continuous engagement, a performance improvement regime that allows earlier intervention, and expectations that higher-risk companies maintain contingency plans for special administration. Primary legislation and a transition plan are needed before the new body takes over, so the detail and the timetable will continue to develop.

What this means for hiring. A supervisory regulator puts a premium on executives who can sustain an open, evidence-based relationship with the regulator day to day, rather than concentrating effort around a five-yearly price review. It also raises the bar for board composition: independent non-executives with regulatory, engineering, environmental and financial resilience experience are in demand, and chairs must be able to show the regulator that the board is in control. Candidates will ask searching questions about a company’s regulatory standing, balance sheet and enforcement history before engaging, and boards should be prepared to answer them candidly.

International Energy Companies in the UK

A significant share of the UK’s major energy and utilities businesses are subsidiaries or divisions of international groups, with parent companies headquartered in Germany, France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden and elsewhere. These businesses operate within international governance structures that create specific leadership requirements around parent company relationships, group reporting, and the tension between UK market conditions and global strategy. Infrastructure funds and sovereign investors from around the world also own large stakes in UK networks and water companies, adding a further layer of shareholder expectation.

Senior executives at UK subsidiaries of international energy groups need sector-specific UK knowledge combined with the international governance fluency to operate in a matrix structure. Making the case for UK capital investment against competing international opportunities, and keeping international shareholders confident in UK regulatory and policy decisions, is a specific capability built through direct experience of international corporate structures rather than purely domestic careers.

For broader guidance on senior hiring at UK subsidiaries of international companies, the UK Subsidiary Senior Hiring guide covers the governance and commercial context for these appointments.

The Energy Sector Talent Pipeline

The UK energy sector faces a well-recognised talent shortage at both technical and senior leadership levels. An ageing engineering workforce, competition for technical and digital talent from other sectors, and the increasing breadth of skills the transition demands — engineering combined with digital, sustainability and commercial capability — mean the best candidates are always in demand and searches need to start earlier than most organisations plan. The scale of the investment programmes now running across networks, generation and water intensifies that competition, because many employers are hiring for the same delivery skills at the same time.

The main professional bodies — the Energy Institute, the IET, IMechE, IChemE and the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) — provide professional development frameworks and chartered status that are the baseline expectation for engineering leadership roles. Senior technical executives who hold Chartered Engineer status through a relevant institution demonstrate both baseline technical competence and a commitment to professional development.

Graduate and early-career schemes at the large energy and water companies have historically been one of the main pipelines for senior talent. People who have come through those programmes carry an institutional depth of knowledge — about the regulatory framework, the technical challenges and the operating culture — that lateral hires cannot replicate quickly. Boards that want a strong internal succession bench should treat these programmes, and the mid-career development that follows them, as a strategic investment.

The senior energy talent market is international. Executives from the large European energy groups bring a cross-market perspective that is valuable for UK businesses with international operations or investors. Engineers and commercial leaders with large-scale project experience in the Middle East, Australia and North America are another source, and the oil and gas sector continues to supply technically experienced leaders who want to move their skills into clean energy.

For senior search work, Exec Capital maintains relationships with leadership populations at the major UK energy and water businesses, the European energy groups with UK operations, and the specialist regulatory and commercial pools that are distinctive to the UK regulated market. We combine the method of our broader executive search practice with the sector knowledge that separates credible energy search from generic search carried out in this space.

Interim and Fractional Leadership in Energy and Utilities

Not every leadership gap in energy and utilities needs a permanent hire. Regulated businesses face predictable peaks of demand — price control business plans, major regulatory investigations, refinancings, capital programme start-up and change of ownership — where an experienced interim leader can add more value in six to twelve months than a permanent hire would in their first year.

Common interim appointments include regulatory directors to lead or rescue a business plan, CFOs and treasury leads during refinancing or financial resilience reviews, programme directors for major capital schemes and turnaround leaders for businesses under regulatory special measures. Fractional arrangements suit smaller developers, independent suppliers, energy services companies and start-up infrastructure businesses that need senior finance, commercial or regulatory judgement a few days a month but cannot yet justify a full-time executive. In both cases the same rule applies as for permanent hires: the candidate needs credible sector experience, because there is no time for a long learning curve.

Common Hiring Mistakes in Energy and Utilities

1. Hiring without regulatory framework understanding. The most consequential failure in energy sector senior hiring is appointing a CEO or CFO who lacks a genuine command of the Ofgem or water regulatory framework. Investment cases, the strategy for the next price control and the management of the regulatory relationship all depend on leadership that understands the framework deeply. A CEO who relies entirely on the Regulatory Affairs Director for that understanding is not equipped to make the judgements the role requires.

2. Under-estimating the political visibility risk. Energy and water companies operate under a level of political and media scrutiny most private sector executives have never experienced. The CEO handling a major pollution incident, a winter supply interruption or a serious safety event will do so in public, with parliamentary and media accountability that has no private sector equivalent. The ability to handle that credibly — select committees, media interviews, public consultations — should be assessed explicitly.

3. Neglecting the net zero agenda in operational role appointments. A COO or Asset Director at a network company who treats net zero as a compliance requirement rather than a strategic priority will constrain the organisation’s transformation rather than drive it. The transition dimension should be a substantive part of every senior operational appointment, not an afterthought.

4. Treating the search as a like-for-like replacement. Energy sector roles are changing faster than the people who hold them. A like-for-like search — finding someone with the same background as the incumbent — tends to produce candidates equipped for the previous version of the role. The brief should describe the role as it will be over the next five years, including the effect of RIIO-3, Clean Power 2030 and, in water, the move to a new regulator.

5. Ignoring pay constraints until the offer stage. In water especially, regulatory rules on performance-related pay and the scrutiny of executive remuneration can change what a package is worth to a candidate. Raising this at the offer stage risks losing a preferred candidate; it should be part of the brief and the first conversations.

Frequently asked questions

Is Ofwat being abolished?

Yes. The government has confirmed that Ofwat will be replaced by a single integrated water regulator, as set out in the January 2026 water white paper. Legislation and a transition plan are needed first, so Ofwat remains the economic regulator until the new body is established.

Can water company executives still receive bonuses?

They can, but only where the company meets the standards set under the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025. Where a company fails on environmental, customer, financial resilience or criminal liability measures, performance-related pay for senior executives can be prohibited.

What is RIIO-3 and why does it matter for hiring?

RIIO-3 is Ofgem’s price control for electricity transmission and gas networks, which took effect from April 2026. It sets allowed revenues and performance targets for the period, and it supports a large investment programme, which increases demand for capital delivery, regulatory and finance leaders.

Should we hire a CEO from outside the sector?

For large regulated networks and water companies, sector experience is usually essential because regulatory credibility is needed from day one. For developers, suppliers and energy services businesses, a strong commercial leader from another infrastructure or consumer sector can work well with a capable regulatory team around them.

When does an interim executive make sense?

Interim leadership suits time-bound pressure points such as a price control submission, a refinancing, a regulatory investigation or the gap before a permanent appointment starts. An experienced interim can be in post far sooner than a permanent hire who is working a long notice period.