Thames Water bosses were set for £18.5mn before outcry over bonuses

16 comments

1. Never mind bonuses they should be locked up for allowing millions of tonnes of shite and other pollutants to be dumped in to the rivers.

2. I just don’t get the audacity of still claiming million pound bonuses from a failing company? Did they genuinely think they’d get away with it?

   There’s just no shame in the executive classes.

3. Let them all go bankrupt and then nationalise and mandate it going forward that all profits are put back into the infrastructure – why should anyone get bonuses for doing their job (like this), they get paid a salary – end of.

4. Imagine being £22+ billion in debt, being useless at what you’re supposed to do, and yet expecting a bonus.

5. People are confused why they get bonuses when the Company is failing.

   Its because they aren’t being paid to run the company well, they are being paid to make profits for the shareholders. They don’t care about the company, what’s right or wrong, the customers, the state of the water, the state of infrastructure. Private Equity have invested in the company, they want a fucking return, they want a return today, tomorrow, next week. Then they dip out when the shit hits the fan.

   It was said that some of the Private Equity that where invested in Thames Water have already written it off. They’re happy they’ve already made their money, and got a return on what they invested. They will just be positioning now to see if it is saved by Gov bail out, or if its taken full State control, they’ll just wash their hands of it.

6. You should be jailed for such blatant corporate kleptocracy.

7. I’m probably oversimplifying but surely bonuses are related to performance and if the business does not perform you don’t get one?!

8. A couple of things commenters are missing here.

   1. Most of the executives are not the same people who were in charge for the last 15 years. So their performance is not judged by whether the company is in dire straights or not. It’s judged by whether the situation is improving or getting worse.

   2. These £18.5 million bonuses were tied to a deal in which investors are loaning £3 billion more while also writing off £4 billion of existing debt. £18.5 million / £7 billion is 0.26%

   Imagine it’s your job to persuade and negotiate with investors to do this. You get the deal over the line, potentially returning this massive company to a viable state, and then the part of that deal that was designed to keep you in your job gets cancelled because people weren’t happy that on 99.74% of the benefits were going to fixing infrastructure.

9. They’ve earnt the bonuses.

   Their job is to get as much money as possible for shareholders, which they were doing very well at.

   They don’t have a responsibility to any of their customers or those of us who have had to work in the filth they’ve created, like when I had to pick bits of bog roll off boats before I could paint the waterline.

10. The moral of the story being that public outcrys work!

11. The regulator, Ofwat, is corrupt.

    “Two-thirds of England’s biggest water companies employ key executives who had previously worked at the watchdog tasked with regulating them, the *Observer* can reveal.

    Cathryn Ross, the new interim joint chief executive of Thames [Water](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/water) and a former head of watchdog Ofwat, is one of several ex-employees working for water companies in senior roles such as strategy, regulation and infrastructure.

    An analysis by the *Observer* has found 27 former Ofwat directors, managers and consultants working in the industry they helped to regulate, with about half in senior posts.”

    [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/01/exclusive-uk-water-giants-recruit-top-staff-from-regulator-ofwat](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/01/exclusive-uk-water-giants-recruit-top-staff-from-regulator-ofwat)

    The Tories corrupted Britain.

12. Thames Water emailed me the other day:

    “Let’s protect our most precious resource

    As you’ve probably noticed, we’ve had lots of warm, dry weather recently. In fact, it’s been the driest spring in 69 years. And while our water reserves are at a healthy level right now, continuing dry weather could see those levels drop.

    To help make sure we all have enough water over the hotter months, we’re asking customers to please be mindful of their water use.

    If you can, avoid wasting water and fix leaky loos or dripping taps as soon as you can. This will help us keep reservoirs topped up and make sure there’s enough water to go around during dry spells.”

    Bastards

13. Would’ve gotten away with it if it weren’t for those pesky kids

14. Most corrupt company in the UK. I’ve spoken to their employees who confirm it has the government by the balls

15. Capitalism and private companies are great when they get to compete, but they will absolutely shit on the environment and any common good as long as they will profit off of it and we don’t prevent them. And even with the most stringent regulation they will find a way to go around them.

16. Every penny profit from water that isn’t reinvested is theft.

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