Thames Water is "putting profit before public good" as CEO reveals they received a staggering 156% bonus

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Responding to Thames Water bosses’ appearance before the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee today, the Liberal Democrats have said that the company is “putting profit before public good” and branded their executive bonuses “outrageous”.

Today, executives from Thames Water, Chris Weston (CEO), Sir Adrian Montague (Chair) and Steve Buck (CFO) were grilled on their company’s performance from sewage dumping to financial mismanagement.

Recently, Thames Water acquired an additional £3 billion of debt whilst data shows the company was responsible for almost 300,000 hours of sewage leaks last year.

Despite these failures, at the committee hearing today CEO Chris Weston admitted that he gets paid a bonus of a staggering 156%, which the Lib Dems have said is “unjustifiable”.

Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Tim Farron said:

“It is outrageous that whilst Thames Water are accumulating seemingly exponential debt, they are choosing to give themselves enormous bonuses. In the meantime, they are passing the buck to customers who are being slapped with eye-watering bills.

“As Thames Water continues to dump sewage into our precious waterways, it is clear they are putting profit before public good. The Government must act now and replace Ofwat with a new regulator who can properly hold water companies to account on environmental pollution and unjustifiable bonuses.” 

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

Chris Weston’s answer to the committee can be watched here

Hours of spillage in 2024 broken down by water company can be found here. Original government source is here.