Bosses of several water utilities are to forego their bonuses following a public outcry over the widespread and continuous dumping of sewage into the nation’s rivers.
Nicola Shaw, head of Yorkshire Water, who said he could understand the public’s “strength of feeling” over the issue, will give up a potential bonus ranging between £600,000 and £800,000 if the company were to hit its performance targets.
“This is the right thing to do and I’m committed to improving Yorkshire Water’s performance,” said Shaw
Sarah Bentley, chief executive of Thames Water, as well as the company's chief financial officer Alastair Cochran, have also chosen to forgo their bonuses.
Bentley said it “just did not feel like the right thing to take performance-related pay this year”.
Susan Davy, chief executive of South West Water's parent Pennon Group PLC (LSE:PNN, OTC:PEGRY), who received £522,000 in 2022, will also not be accepting a bonus.
“This is the right thing to do. We’re listening to our customers, we get it,” said Davy.
Emma Clancy, head of the Consumer Council for Water, agreed that it was the right decision, stating: "Our recent research, Bridging the Gap, demonstrates that bonuses contribute to the public's current frustration with the water industry. They desire greater transparency and openness on this matter. This announcement shows that their concerns are being heard."
In April, Labour accused ministers of turning Britain’s coastline and rivers into open sewers after it analysed data on dumping released by the Environment Agency.
According to its analysis, Labour said raw sewage was released in 137 constituencies around Britain’s coastline for almost a million hours in 2022.
United Utilities, in the northwest, was responsible for more than 69,000 spills over 425,000 hours, Severn Trent for 44,700 spillages and South West Water for 37,649.