Australian Energy Regulator names Daniel Woolstencroft as permanent CIO

The Australian Energy Regulator has appointed Daniel Woolstencroft as chief information officer, giving the energy watchdog a permanent technology lead just months after it split from the competition regulator.

The appointment was reported by iTnews on 30 September 2026. The publication said Woolstencroft started in the role on 14 September, after previously leading IT at another Australian Public Service agency.

Primary government material also lists Woolstencroft in the role. The Australian Government Directory page for the AER’s Chief Information Officer names “Mr. Daniel Woolstencroft” as the key person for the position, with that directory page last updated on 4 September 2026.

The timing matters.

The AER became a standalone Non-Corporate Commonwealth Entity from 1 July 2026, according to the Australian Government Directory. The directory says the regulator was originally a separate legal entity and constituent part of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, before becoming a separate agency for Public Service Act purposes and a standalone entity under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act.

That makes the CIO role more than a routine executive hire. The regulator is now building and running its own agency machinery, including the systems, data services and digital capability needed to support its work across energy markets and networks.

iTnews reported Woolstencroft is the AER’s first permanent CIO since that 1 July separation. It also reported the agency had an interim CIO from the beginning of 2026, Leigh Berrell, and that before Berrell, IT responsibilities inside the AER were understood to have been split across several roles.

The AER’s public organisation material shows where the role sits. The Australian Government Directory lists a Legal, Corporate and Information Services section, with Corporate Services, Chief Information Officer, and General Counsel and General Manager among the sections beneath it. The AER’s own website also lists an organisation structure page, with an organisation chart released on 19 August 2026 and labelled as an October 2026 PDF, although the supplied evidence does not include the contents of that chart.

Woolstencroft is expected to lead a digital transformation program at the AER, according to iTnews, alongside standard technology leadership duties. The report also cited a brief LinkedIn post from Woolstencroft in which he said he was looking forward to working with the team to build the future of digital and data services for the regulator.

The AER’s remit is broad and highly technical. The Australian Government Directory says it performs economic regulation of the wholesale electricity market and electricity transmission networks in the National Electricity Market, and enforces the National Electricity Law and National Electricity Rules.

For a regulator dealing with energy market data, network regulation, compliance, enforcement and performance reporting, the digital foundations are not back-office trivia. They are core infrastructure.

The appointment gives the AER a named technology executive as it settles into life as a standalone Commonwealth agency. The next test will be how quickly that leadership turns into durable systems, cleaner data services and the digital muscle the regulator needs for a changing energy market.