Bonuses to water company bosses rose this year to £9.1m – despite record sewage discharges and financial woes at some utilities.
Executives from English and Welsh water firms received a total of £9,126,858 in the 2023/2024 financial year, up from £9,012,777 a year earlier, according to analysis of company filings done by the Liberal Democrats.
When base pay and pension contributions are factored in, total payments to executives reached more than £20m – slightly less than the year before when full remuneration was £20.2m.
Pension contributions also increased to £1.68m from £1.55m.
Money blog: Popular lager ‘watered down’ so brewery saves on tax
Base pay alone for water company seniors was more than £9.2m, less than the £9.7m recorded 12 months before.
It comes as a record number of sewage discharges went into British waterways.
Latest figures from the Environment Agency showed discharges of untreated sewage by water companies doubled from 1.8 million hours of discharges in 2022 to a record 3.6 million in 2023 while 464,000 individual spills were recorded – up from 301,000.
Under current rules, water companies can discharge sewage from storm overflows, but only during periods of heavy rain and under strictly permitted conditions.
Meanwhile, the UK’s biggest water provider Thames Water faces nationalisation with experts saying the company is “uninvestable” as shareholders pull their investments, while its holding firm has defaulted on some of its £16bn debt pile.
Previous chief executive Sarah Bentley resigned just a day before news of a possible collapse of Thames Water came to light.
Who…
