The boss of South East Water (SEW) should not receive a bonus after tens of thousands of its customers were recently left without water, the Environment Secretary has said.
David Hinton was awarded £115,000 last year on top of his £400,000 salary, and his bonus is in line to more than double this year – despite repeated and extended water outages and multiple ongoing regulatory investigations into the company.
SEW said it does not reward poor performance.
Speaking to the BBC, Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said: “Poorly performing water bosses should not be receiving a bonus and South East water is the poorest performer.”
Up to 30,000 properties in the south of England had no water last week, at the height of the issues, which prompted a first-of-its-kind investigation into SEW by regulator Ofwat.
For some homes, it was the second time in six weeks they were left without water supply.
Supply problems before Christmas forced schools to close and saw long lines of people and cars queuing up for bottled water.
SEW was repeatedly criticised during the crisis for its lack of clear communication, with the deadline for restoring supplies extended multiple times.
Earlier this month, Hinton, the chief executive, was recalled to parliament to face questions from MPs.
There have been growing calls from MPs and councillors across all parties for him to resign and the prime minister and the environment secretary weighed in with their concerns about the crisis facing the water company’s customers.
A regulator told MPs SEW was “flying blind” for weeks before the crisis.
In a statement, a SEW spokesperson said the company “recognises success but does not reward poor performance”.
“South East Water remains committed to a remuneration framework that supports a performance culture.
“The bonus scheme is evaluated by the company’s independent non-executive director-led remuneration committee. The executive directors are not part of this committee and have no say in their remuneration,” the spokesperson said.
The company has previously said that it is facing greater pressures than other water suppliers, partly because of population growth in the south of England.
Reynolds’s comments come a day before the government unveils a major overhaul of the troubled water industry.
It has already vowed to abolish the existing regulator Ofwat and replace it with a new watchdog.
The industry has faced severe criticism in recent years over rising bills and poor environmental records.
Water bills are due to rise steeply until 2030 to fund upgrades to the water system.
In November, six companies were blocked from paying bonuses to bosses over serious pollution incidents and other performance issues, under new powers introduced last year. SEW was not one of them.
A month before that, all but two companies in England and Wales were ordered to refund more than £260m to customers for poor performance.
