As a child growing up in a village at the edge of the Welsh valleys outside Cardiff, John Pettigrew was nagged by his parents to switch the lights off whenever he left a room. Now, he’s part of a national effort to slash Britain’s energy use in the face of bills sent soaring by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and resulting concerns about gas and electricity supplies.
Despite having collected a total of more than £30m in cumulative pay and benefits in his time as chief executive of National Grid, Pettigrew has not forgotten his parents’ advice. “I’m the same with my family now – making sure the thermostat is turned down a few degrees, doing the sensible things,” he says. “It is the right thing to do from an environmental [and] an affordability perspective. We were very supportive of the government and other bodies advocating for people to do that.”
