Private UK Water Company Threatens To Raise Executive Pay If Gov Limits Bonuses After Decades of Pollution

Troubled Thames Water has threatened to increase the salaries of its executives if the industry regulator sees through on plans to limit bonuses for the bosses of water companies. The company, which serves more than 16 million customers across the London area and the Thames valley, has told Ofwat it intends to raise base executive pay in a move that critics say is unscrupulous.

Thames told Ofwat that the bonus proposals would make it hard to attract talent to the sector, according to a report submitted in early December by the company’s regulatory strategy committee to the regulator’s board, the Financial Times reported. “We have made it very clear to Ofwat that, if it proceeds with its proposals, it is highly likely that base pay will need to be increased to compensate for the loss of performance-related pay plans,” said the report by Jonathan Haskins, the chief risk and compliance officer at Thames Water.

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Feargal Sharkey, the former Undertones lead singer turned campaigner, said Thames’s demand showed that banning water chief executive bonuses was “nothing but ineffectual, cheap political posturing”. “The simple truth is if they want to change the culture they need to change the whole ethos of Ofwat and the water companies,” Sharkey said.

“Ofwat can already set limits on CEO pay by setting an enforcement order. CEOs are always going to try to make as much money for themselves as they can without a care about the environment. “The government tried limiting bonuses in the City already and that didn’t work as they just massively inflated their salaries. The same is happening here.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/15/thames-water-says-it-will-raise-base-pay-of-bosses-if-ofwat-limits-bonuses