(Reuters) -British water utility Pennon Group named Affinity Water CEO Keith Haslett as its new chief executive on Thursday, bringing in an industry veteran to steer the company through its transformation.
Haslett, 46, who has served as the CEO of Affinity Water since January 2023, is expected to join Pennon in 2026. He will replace Susan Davy, who announced in July her retirement after nearly five years at the helm.
Before Affinity, Haslett held several senior roles at Northumbrian Water Group and United Utilities, overseeing large-scale water and wastewater operations and multi-billion-pound asset portfolios, Pennon said.
Haslett will be tasked with overseeing the group’s investments into infrastructure and efforts to cut environmental pollution, as the sector deals with elevated costs, high levels of debt, heightened public and political scrutiny and rapid regulatory changes.
Earlier this year, Pennon’s South West Water was slapped with a penalty by regulator Ofwat for failures in managing its wastewater treatment works and network.
In response, Pennon has promised to fix these issues by committing to reduce spills and address environmental pollution by 2030.
(Reporting by Nithyashree R B in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
