Nigel Pocklington is set to take over as Good Energy’s CEO from May 2021 | Credit: Good Energy
Nigel Pocklington to take the reins from the green energy supplier’s founder Juliet Davenport, who will become non-executive director of the clean energy business
Good Energy has appointed Nigel Pocklington as its new CEO, with the former Moneysupermarket.com Group executive due to take over the reins at the green energy supplier from the start of next month.
The digital marketing executive ended a four-and-a-half year stint at price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com in December last year and has also held a number senior roles at online travel shopping company Expedia, including president of eBookers and chief marketing officer of Hotels.com. He is also non-executive director for publicly-listed digital transformation consultancy Kin and Carta.
Pocklington was unveiled yesterday as the successor to Good Energy founder Juliet Davenport, who announced in February she would step down afrom the helm of the pioneering energy company once a new CEO had been identified.
“Good Energy is a strong business at the forefront of the transition in the energy market and the UK’s push to net zero,” Pocklington said. “I look forward to leading the business on the next stage of this exciting journey.”
The company was the UK’s first 100 per cent renewable electricity supplier when it was founded two decades ago, and currently owns two wind farms, six solar farms and sources electricity from more than 1,600 independent UK generators.
Will Whitehorn, chair of the Good Energy Group said the firm was “delighted” to welcome Pocklington to the business, adding that his extensive commercial experience would help expand the firm’s energy and mobility-as-a-service businesses, segments the tirm expects to grow over the coming years as the decarbonisation of heat and transport gathers pace.
“Following an extensive search and a thorough evaluation of high-quality candidates, we are confident that Nigel’s digital and transformation experience will help to lead Good Energy in the next stage of the group’s development,” Whitehorn said. “This experience will help to accelerate innovation and drive growth across all of our businesses specifically in the new markets of energy and mobility as a service, in which we are already positioned strongly.”
Pocklington is expected to take up his new position on 1 May 2021, when he will also join the Good Energy Board.
Delighted to have been appointed the new CEO @GoodEnergy plc, the UK’s first 100% renewable electricity supplier and innovative energy services company. Look forward to building on the pioneering work of @DavenportJuliet and team.
— Nigel Pocklington (@Nigelpock) April 7, 2021
Davenport, meanwhile, will remain on the board as a non-executive director and a chair of the company’s electric vehicle (EV) charging subsidiary Zap-Map. The entrepreneur is widely recognised as pioneer of renewables in the UK, having set up Good Energy two decades ago before overseeing its growth into a leading, independent 100 per cent renewable energy supplier.
Davenport welcomed Pocklington’s appointment as her successor. “Nigel is joining Good Energy at an exciting stage of its development and I am looking forward to working with him in my role as a non-executive director in the future,” she said.
Under Davenport’s leadership, the firm was an early backer of small-scale renewables, creating the first-of-its-kind HomeGen service in 2004 which lay the foundations for the Feed-in Tariff subsidy scheme. The company has since developed over 50MW of solar and wind assets in the UK, while pioneering a range of green technology innovations.
The company has also found itself embroiled in a tense rivalry with Ecotricity in 2016, another West Country-based renewable energy supplier, after the latter’s CEO Dale Vince snapped up a stake in Good Energy and attempted to gain a seat on its board. A war of words ensued, with Vince levelling criticism at Good Energy over its governance – allegations which were strongly refuted by the firm.
More recently, the firm has moved into the burgeoning EV sector with the acquisition of EV charging phone app Zap Map in 2019, while last year it announced plans to launch a new energy tariff specially designed for householders with heat pumps.
