Cash flow
Turd of the Week , Issue 1638 WELSH Water (aka Dwr Cymru) likes to point out that, unlike English water companies, it is a not-for-profit company with no shareholders. But that hasn't stopped it paying whopping bonuses to its executives.

The firm handed performance-related bonuses worth a total of £931,000 in 2022 to chief executive Peter Perry, chief financial officer Mike Davis and director Chris Jones. No bonuses were paid in 2023, but in the 2023/24 financial year the chief exec was awarded a £91,000 bonus as part of his £489,000 pay packet.

Laying waste
Meanwhile environmental campaigners from the Cleddau Project reported Welsh Water for dumping the equivalent of 17 tankerloads of sewage a day into the River Cleddau. Data showed that pumps at Picton in Pembrokeshire were not running at full capacity from July 2022 to February 2024, meaning a total of 56,000 cubic metres of untreated wastewater entered the river in a conservation area.

Regulator Ofwat fined the firm £40m in February for a "significant failure of governance and management oversight" which led to the water company misreporting its leakage figures and underplaying its poor performance over the past five years. And in October, Welsh Water was ordered to pay a £24.1m underperformance penalty by Ofwat.

In late November Ofwat stepped in to directly block Welsh Water – along with Thames Water and Yorkshire Water – from using customer money to pay "undeserved" bonuses. The regulator said it aims to "sharpen executive mindsets" and encourage companies to improve performance and accountability.

Fragile defence
Welsh Water admitted that its performance was "not as good" as expected, but the bonuses had reflected "other elements of good performance including strong customer service and financial performance". Er, right.

With sewage pouring into their rivers and bills due to increase 29 percent by 2030, Welsh Water customers can take small comfort from the fact that, for now, the executive bonus tap has been turned off.