The role has been held on an interim basis by Anna Rossington since February, after Philippa Pickford moved to head up the regulator’s E-Serve division.
Lawrence, who will take up his new role in mid-July, has worked in the energy sector for 25 years. He spent a decade at Centrica, latterly as head of process and controls for British Gas. After helping Hudson Energy enter the UK market, Lawrence joined Deloitte in 2012. He is currently a director in the risk advisory team providing both assurance and advisory services to clients within regulated industries.
He said: “Failure to tackle climate change will result in an existential threat to our planet. Fast paced change that protects all consumers in response to the climate crisis is not possible without a leading regulatory framework. I am looking forward to working with all colleagues at Ofgem as well as market participants to co-create a future retail market that is fair for consumers and drives the transition to net zero.”
The future of the energy retail market is one of the principal focus areas in Ofgem’s forward work programme. This promised a strategic change programme, to be published in the summer, which it said would focus on vulnerability, a just transition to net zero and “fair energy prices, with or without the price cap”.