The boss of South West Water’s parent company has raised £860,000 despite the parasite contamination scandal.
Susan Davy’s salary soared 58 per cent in the last financial year, the utility revealed yesterday, amid anger over a vomiting bug outbreak traced to one of its reservoirs.
And as the crisis continues, Pennon – the listed owner of South West Water and Bristol Water – revealed that pollution incidents increased by 80 per cent last year.
Critics branded Davy’s inflated take-home pay a “farce” as some homes in Brixham, Devon, still do not have clean tap water.
Pennon president Gill Rider also announced she will resign next month, just weeks after the dirty water scandal broke.
Making waves: Susan Davy, boss of South West Water parent company Pennon, enjoyed 58% pay rise despite parasite contamination scandal
Hundreds of customers became ill and some were hospitalized after drinking water contaminated with a parasite.
Some residents are still having to boil their tap water about a month after the first cases were reported.
Totnes Conservative MP Anthony Mangnall has called for victims to be compensated.
But the wider water sector is also facing a fierce backlash over the dumping of wastewater into Britain’s rivers and lakes.
Debt-ridden Thames Water, the UK’s largest water supplier, is struggling to raise cash or risks going bankrupt next year.
Davy, 55, was urged to resign last month after shareholders received £127m in dividends, while households supplied with contaminated water will receive up to £265 each.
Amid public and political outrage over the company’s performance, the chief executive gave up her bonus for the second year in a row, costing her £237,000 for the year ending March 31.
But he earned £298,000 thanks to a long-term incentive scheme which increased his total salary to £860,000, up from £543,000 the previous year.
The rest of the package was made up of a base salary of £492,000, benefits of £21,000 and pension payments of £49,000.
Crisis: A tap water alert has been issued in Brixham after hundreds of people fell ill from a vomiting virus.
It was revealed yesterday that pollution incidents at South West Water have soared by 80 per cent to 194 in 2023.
Andrew Speke, of the High Pay Center think tank, said: “It seems ridiculous that the chief executive of a company that has failed to live up to its duties to consumers and the environment as Pennon Group did last year could receive a raise. wage”. .
It shows the real disconnect between how executives are rewarded and the actual performance of that individual and their company.”
Rider, who has chaired Pennon’s board for about four years, will resign at the company’s annual general meeting in July and will be replaced by David Sproul, chairman of digital bank Starling Bank. He was previously global deputy chief executive of audit giant Deloitte.
A Pennon spokesperson said: ‘We understand the strength of feeling among our customers and the public around the issues facing the water sector.
For the second year in a row, our CEO, along with other members of our executive leadership team, have made the personal decision to decline the prior year’s annual bonus.’
Pennon made a pre-tax loss of £9.1m, compared to £8.5m the previous year. Net debt rose to £3.8bn during the period, up from £3.0bn.