The government has announced that many water companies have been banned from paying “unfair” bonuses to some of their senior officials.
These measures apply to water companies that do not meet environment and consumer standards, are not financially flexible or have been convicted of criminal offenses.
Public anxiety about sewage spread and increasing bills over the years has been increasing, while water companies have paid £ 112M to the awards to the authorities in the last decade.
Under the new Water Act, six firms have been banned from paying some bonuses this year, including Anglian Water, Southern Water, Tems Water, United Utilities, Wessex Water and Yorkshire Water.
The restriction, which is back by April 2024, means that the regulator may force the OFWAT firms back to bonus that has been paid or facing enforcement action. This also applies to the awards as well as sharing cash.
This is part of new measures in the Water Act which came into force on Friday.
Environment Secretary Steve Reid said that the public was “fierce” on the bonus for the water firm owners, despite overseeing the record level of sewage in our rivers, lakes and seas.
“With this government, the era of taking profits from pollution is over,” he told the BBC Today program.
When the question was challenged whether companies would try to go around the ban by increasing the Aadhaar pay of the authorities, as it was with the banking bonus, they said that the water firms would “be foolish if they did not realize that they needed to rebuild faith with their customers”.
“They need to rebuild that broken relationship,” he said. “I don’t think they will do this, but we are keeping an eye, and if we need, there are opportunities to intervene.”
But Tim Faran, spokesman of the Liberal Democrat environment, called the government’s announcement “half -cooked”.
He said that it “does not touch the parties in implementing the fundamental improvement – especially if water companies can still solve the bonus and shut down the hook”.
The government said that in the previous year, the payment of £ 7.6 meter bonus was paid to the owners of water in England.
Water UK, which represents companies in the industry, said that independent committees of firms, which decide on the salary related to performance, will follow the laws set by the government.
It states: “Water companies focus on investing a record £ 104BN in the next five years to secure our water supply, enter our rivers and seas and to support the economic development.
This week, a review found that the water industry in England and Wales was failing.
Under the leadership of Sir John Kanalif, Deputy Governor of the Independent Water Commission, former Bank of England, his interim findings stated that public belief “was shaken by pollution, financial difficulties, mismanagement [and] Infrastructure failures “.
Customers have seen the bill rocket as the water firms try to raise funds to invest in the collapse infrastructure.
The Commission said that the UK water system has faced “deep, systemic and interlocking failures” over the years.
This included “Planning for Failure and Future in the government’s strategy”.
Last month, Temes water was fined £ 122.7m The biggest fine issued by Owat, to violate the rules on sewage spills and shareholder payouts.
The excessive-blessing company works in a quarter of the British population, mostly in parts of London and Southern England, and employs 8,000 people.
Earlier this week, Temes took a major setback in an attempt to secure his future after the American private equity veteran. KKR evacuated £ 4bn rescue deal For the company.
In April, campaigners found that Number pollution incidents in England were at a height of 10 years,
