Thames Water has announced the appointment of Steve Buck, formerly CFO at Pennon Group and Anglian Water respectively, as its new Chief Financial Officer with effect from 7 April 2025.

He replaces Alastair Cochran who stepped down on 31 March.

Prior to this he was at Centrica for 11 years where he held a number of senior roles including as Group Head of Finance and Transformation and Finance Director of British Gas. He has also previously worked for Thames Water between 2002- 2007. He is a Chartered Management Accountant.

Announcing his appointment, Thames Water said he has a proven track record working in capital intensive and regulated industries; and has demonstrated success in modernising finance functions, leading M&A activities and managing capital markets.

Chris Weston, CEO of Thames Water commented:

“I am delighted that Steve is joining Thames at a pivotal moment for the business. He will play a crucial role as we seek to place Thames on a more secure financial foundation, continue to implement our turnaround plan and focus on a full recapitalisation of the business.”

Steve Buck commented:

“I am looking forward to returning to Thames Water. Working with the team I will be focused on delivering the company’s turnaround plan, and deliver the recapitalisation of the business, in order to put the business on a firmer financial platform so that we can improve performance and ensure we meet the expectations of our customers, colleagues and wider stakeholders.

The appointment follows a selection process overseen by the Thames Water Board.

Remuneration arrangements

Steve Buck will receive an annual salary of £500,000, pension allowance of 12% of salary, which is aligned to the pension allowance for the workforce, and car allowance of £12,500 pa.

He will be eligible to participate in the company’s existing Performance-Related Pay Plan with an on-target performance paying out at 156% of salary.

The Performance-Related Pay Plan contains a base award payable at the end of the performance year, and a deferred award payable after two years.

The Performance-Related Pay Plan has been designed to meet Ofwat’s current requirements on executive related pay and contains performance measures directly aligned to customer, environment and financial resilience. The deferred element is directly linked to delivery of the turnaround plan.