Revealed: The water firm bosses who claim millions in pay and benefits - despite bills increasing

Water company fat cats who pollute Britain’s seas, rivers and streams claim millions in pay and perks while blowing similar amounts on fines for their poor performance.

Among the most lucrative jobs in the sector belongs to brazen Chris Weston, who became CEO of struggling Thames Water in January, and then accepted a £195,000 bonus for his first three months at the company in April.

The payout came despite the firm, which is the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, being on the verge of bankruptcy.

Mr Weston, who lives in a sprawling £4 million Grade-II listed home in Kent with a heated swimming pool and tennis courts, has a salary package of up to £2.3 million. 

Earlier this year, he enjoyed a break at a stunning angling retreat on the Rio Gallegos, Argentina, where stays start at £9,000.

Meanwhile, his company has pumped 72 billion litres of sewage into the Thames since 2020. 

Regulator Ofwat ordered it to pay record fines of £104 million in August for failing to manage sewage spills at more than 150 wastewater treatment works.

In October, Mr Weston secured a financing lifeline of up to £3 billion to keep his company afloat while it tries to restructure over the next year.

Thames Water boss Chris Weston (pictured) who became CEO of struggling Thames Water in January

UK’s worst-performing water company Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, is run by former electricity board boss Peter Perry (pictured)

The UK’s worst-performing water company is Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, run by former electricity board boss Peter Perry.

While banking a £365,000 salary and handing customers the highest bills in England and Wales, Mr Perry presided over an astonishing 117,830 incidents of public waterway pollution last year - including dumping raw sewage into a protected dolphin sanctuary.

To make matters worse, the firm was recently fined £40 million for concealing its appalling record on leaks and water saving by lying to its customers and regulators over three years.

The company is now facing a six-figure fine for failing to monitor effluent discharges from sewage and water treatment works.

It was hit with a £24.1 million underperformance penalty by industry regulator Ofwat in October and placed in its worst-performing ‘lagging’ category.

Despite the disastrous mismanagement, Welsh Water paid out a performance-related bonus of £91,364 to Mr Perry in July.

United Utilities, the monopoly water supplier to seven million people in north-west England, is best known for its dire pollution record and its chief executive’s eye-watering pay package.

Louise Beardmore CEO of United Utilities, pocketed a bonus of £420,000 this year, bringing her total pay up to £1.4 million

Lawrence Gosden boss of Southern Water pocketed a £764,000 pay package last financial year

Steve Mogford, who retired last year, lined his pockets with £30 million in pay and perks during his 12 years leading the firm.

His replacement, Louise Beardmore, pocketed a bonus of £420,000 this year, bringing her total pay up to £1.4 million.

She was at the helm when 10 million litres of untreated sewage leaked into Lake Windermere, the jewel in the crown of Cumbria’s stunning Lake District and a Unesco World Heritage site, in February.

It followed a string of scandals, including a similar incident at the lake two years ago which turned miles of water bright green.

United dished out nearly £340 million in dividends to shareholders in the last financial year from record revenues worth more than £5 million a day.

Thousands of South West Water customers were advised to boil their tap water in May after its supplies became infected with deadly disease-causing bugs.

People were rushed to hospital with dehydration and blood in their vomit and diarrhoea after ingesting cryptosporidium parasites which leaked into water supplies in Brixham, south Devon.

Liv Garfield (pictured), CEO of Severn Trent Water who was paid £3.2 million this year, including a £584,000 bonus

Months before the disaster, the supplier’s CEO Susan Davy was handed a £300,000 pay rise, taking her total take-home to £860,000. She had waved a six-figure bonus that would have taken her pay to nearly £1 million.

The 55-year-old lives in a large house in Devon bought for £560,000 more than 15 years ago, just miles from the area where hundreds fell sick as a result of a dodgy pipe.

Aside from the parasites, she has presided over 58,249 incidents of public waterway pollution last year.

While customers of Southern Water deal with huge bill rises, the firm’s boss Lawrence Gosden pocketed a £764,000 pay package last financial year - up from £428,000 the year before.

His company was fined £330,000 earlier this year after raw sewage escaped into a stream near Southampton for what the company admitted could have been nearly 20 hours.

Almost 2,000 fish were killed as faulty equipment at a pumping station sent untreated effluent into the environment.

Meanwhile, pay packages don’t come much bigger than that of Liv Garfield, CEO of Severn Trent Water. The company awarded paid her £3.2 million this year, including a £584,000 bonus, just months after it was fined £2 million for polluting waterways.

Ms Garfield has earned at least £27.7 million in total since becoming chief executive in April 2014, according to a Financial Times study.