Table of Contents
Thrills and spills: Pennon boss Susan Davy’s salary rose to £860,000
The Chancellor has warned water companies that any rise in customer bills should be used to rebuild “crumbling” infrastructure rather than enriching shareholders or executives.
Rachel Reeves said regulators must keep a tight rein on the industry even as the Government launches a broader attack on bureaucracy.
Customers will face average bill increases of £94, or 21 per cent, over the next five years, although water companies had asked for even bigger increases.
“If prices are going to go up,” Reeves said, “it’s really important that all that money goes into investments, rather than stock buybacks, dividends and bonus payments.”
Figures from April showed that England and Wales’ 16 water companies had paid out £78 billion in dividends in the three decades since privatization in 1991, while racking up £64 billion in debt, the Financial Times said.
Infrastructure spending totaled £190 billion, which critics say is not enough, arguing the financial model has created today’s sewage spills, high leaks and water cuts.
It occurs when bosses see their salaries increase. Pennon director Susan Davy received £860,000 in total for the last financial year, up from £543,000, despite the owner of South West Water seeing an outbreak of diarrhea caused by a parasite in Devon’s water supply this summer.
DIY INVESTMENT PLATFORMS
AJ Bell
AJ Bell
Easy investing and ready-to-use portfolios
Hargreaves Lansdown
Hargreaves Lansdown
Free Fund Trading and Investment Ideas
interactive inverter
interactive inverter
Fixed fee investing from £4.99 per month
sax
sax
Get £200 back in trading fees
Trade 212
Trade 212
Free trading and no account commission
Affiliate links: If you purchase a This is Money product you may earn a commission. These offers are chosen by our editorial team as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.