Article source: Guardian Environment
Loading...
BETA – We are refining the platform. Your feedback helps us improve. Share feedback
Loading...
Publish your own articles and insights on Citable ESG
Pro organisations publish unlimited content, strengthening their AI Citability Score and visibility to procurement teams, investors, clients, customers, partners, and followers.
Water company executives' compensation packages have increased despite a government bonus ban and mounting public criticism over sewage pollution and bill hikes. Mark Thurston, chief executive of Anglian Water, earned £1.9m in total remuneration – including a £500,000 "retention payment" that functionally replaces the prohibited bonus structure. Eight water firms expect to fall under the bonus ban for 2025–26, yet this analysis reveals the sector has engineered workarounds to preserve executive pay levels while customer frustration peaks. The retention payment mechanism exemplifies a wider corporate governance problem: regulation without enforcement, or regulation designed around loopholes rather than intent. When companies face public anger over environmental failures and unaffordable bills, executive pay rises signal deeply misaligned priorities. Shareholder boards have repeatedly sided with management over consumer and environmental interests. The bonus ban was supposed to reshape incentive structures; instead, it's become a labelling exercise. What's missing is clarity on how these payments connect – or don't – to actual performance on water quality, leakage reduction, or bill affordability. If water company leadership claims retention payments are necessary for talent, they're admitting the sector cannot attract competent managers without escalating pay amid regulatory failure.