Johnson will be a hard act to follow. Under his leadership, the network has punched well above its weight, both in terms of innovation and in regulatory performance. It also performed notably well in times of stress, such as the 2013 Christmas storms, when it escaped the censure handed out to some of its fellows.
Johnson has a wide and varied background in utilities, including stints in water and contracting at United Utilities and Morrison’s, and chances are, we haven’t seen the last of him. Let’s hope not.
Emery, meanwhile, who joins from generation giant Drax, will bring an interesting perspective to the DNOs’ top table, particularly given his hands-on experience of the ill-fated White Rose carbon capture and storage project. There will be similar insight on the other side of the regulatory fence, with Jonathan Brearley, architect of Electricity Market Reform during his time at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, about to take up the reins of network regulation at Ofgem.
As networks position themselves for an expanded role overseeing a more flexible power system, such broader perspectives seem both timely and useful. Ofgem’s recent disappointing decision to rule out allowing DNOs to own and operate storage, revealed by Utility Week last week, might be a good place to start the discussions.
• Interesting news from Ofwat this week, with Cathryn Ross’s hint that the regulator’s endgame is to completely deregulate prices in the non-household retail market. It’s perfectly logical – a competitive market implies free prices and it would solve the thorny issue of the margin, generally considered to be too low to create active competition in the nascent market. But it’s significant that this is the first time it’s been said. With household reform and upstream reform both looming on the horizon, water companies can look forward to enjoying a new kind of freedom – with all the challenges and opportunities that entails.