Helen Campbell, Executive Director, Delivery at Ofwat, has written to the Remuneration Committee Chairs of the English and Welsh water companies warning them that excessive increases in base pay, retention payments or other types of remuneration without sufficient justification and transparency could undermine Ofwat’s objective of rebuilding public trust. 

Ofwat has launched a new consultation inviting comments on its proposals to update the Performance related executive pay (PRP) prohibition rule to reflect new changes in environmental reporting for “water only” companies (WOCs).

More than £4 million of potential bonuses were blocked by Ofwat’s new rule on water bosses’ performance related pay in the last financial year as firms chose to comply, according to the water sector economic regulator’s latest performance related executive pay report published today.

Anglian Water has released a statement in response to the ban on executive bonuses confirmed by Ofwat on Friday, saying the company “fully support financial reward being tightly linked to company performance.”

Ofwat has today launched a new consultation seeking feedback on a new rule that will prevent water companies from awarding bonuses to water bosses in certain circumstances.

In a new report published today, the Welsh Parliament Environment Committee is calling on Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water and the Welsh Government to accelerate measures to tackle pollution in Wales’ waters.

Ofwat has published its assessment of how performance related pay awarded to water company executives during 2022-23 was aligned to delivery for customers and the environment, and overall company performance.

Ofwat has confirmed new plans that will ensure customers no longer fund executive bonus payments where they have not been sufficiently justified, following a consultation which saw the largest response the regulator has ever received.

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water has confirmed that Chief Executive, Peter Perry, and Chief Finance Officer, Mike Davis, will not receive any variable pay/ bonus for the financial year 2022-23.

The chief executives of Yorkshire Water and South West Water have both announced they will not accept a bonus this year – the news follows the announcement earlier this week that Sarah Bentley, CEO of Thames Water, has made the decision to forgo any bonus or LTIP payments for the financial year 2022-2023.