The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Ofwat have confirmed that Jonson Cox’s appointment as Chair of Ofwat has been extended for a further year.
Cox has served as Chair for Ofwat since November 2012. His appointment, which was renewed in 2015 and was set to end on 31 October 2020, has now been extended to 30 October 2021.
The Environment Secretary has made the extension in conjunction with the Welsh Government after securing agreement from the Prime Minister.
Announcing the extension, Defra said that Jonson Cox was appointed "to resolve long-running issues between investors, companies and the regulator." Since then, jointly with Ofwat’s chief executive, he has co-led the work to bring the water sector back to a core customer and public service focus while retaining an attractive proposition for investors. He has a background as chief executive and chairman in regulated and commercial infrastructure, with a focus on turnarounds and restructuring.
After an early career with Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Mr Cox served as managing director of Yorkshire Water (1996-2000) to lead the company out of a significant crisis with its customers and restored its top-ranking status in the industry.
After other infrastructure roles, he returned to the water sector from 2004-2010 as Group chief executive at AWG plc, owner of Anglian Water Services and Morrison plc, to lead a successful turnaround following a long and sustained loss of stakeholder and regulatory confidence. He bought the Group back from its loss making construction and international operations and restored it to being a top-rated water company.
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