Pennon has revealed that under-fire boss Susan Davy got a pay rise of almost 60% last year just weeks after the water group caused a major diarrhoea outbreak at the Devon town of Brixham.
Davy’s basic salary rose by 3.5% to £492,000 in the year to the end of March. But on top of that, the chief executive received £298,000 from a long-term share scheme set up in 2021, taking the total to £860,000 (£543,000).
Like the previous financial year, Davy did not receive a cash bonus, though in 2023 she declined an LTIP award, which was put into Pennon’s Watershare+ scheme.
The latest accounts show Davy declined £237,000 of her 2024 performance bonus having also turned this down in 2023.
Separately Pennon, owner of South West Water and Bristol Water, said that it had appointed former Deloitte boss David Sproul as its incoming chairman.
Sproul was previously deputy chief executive at the accountant and is currently chairman of Starling Bank.
He will replace Gill Rider at the firm’s annual general meeting on 24 July.
Pennon had been slammed by environmental campaigners for its record of sewage dumping in Devon and Cornwall’s rivers and near beaches on the coast, even before the Brixham incident that left hundreds with stomach problems.
It reduced its dividend in its April results to pay for a £2.4 million fine with a further £3.5 million earmarked for compensation to affected customers in Brixham.
Pennon recently changed its bonus methodology to link payouts to the environment, now accounting for 60% of the award.
As well as owning South West Water, Bristol Water and Bournemouth Water, Pennon recently bought Sutton and East Surrey Water.