Opaque payments totalling £1.3m to Nicola Shaw shows Yorkshire Water is tone-deaf
When it emerged that Nicola Shaw, chief executive of Yorkshire Water, had received an extra £1.3m in undisclosed payments over the last two years from the firm’s off-shore parent company, it would not have been a surprise to any of its customers.
Not because they feel that the extra pay was deserved but because the reputation of Yorkshire Water has fallen so far that of course the chief executive of the water company would be paid extra in an opaque manner while it pumps sewage into the region’s rivers and seas.
The irony is no one would begrudge any of the bosses or even shareholders being remunerated in kind if the business was not failing customers. The water industry should never have reached the nadir that it finds itself in.
Ms Shaw received two £660,000 from Yorkshire Water’s parent company Kelda Holdings for both the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years.
The backlash that followed this revelation earlier in the week would ordinarily see a business change course. Not Yorkshire Water. Instead Ms Shaw will be raking in similar additional pay in the future.
And what for? As CEO of Kelda Group only attended a third of the company’s board meetings and doesn’t work set hours.
Yorkshire Water says that it's so Ms Shaw can help the company shore up its investment plans. Does that mean customers will be spared bill increases? Everyone knows the answer to that.
What this highlights is the biggest failure of water regulators. Water companies have been allowed to weave complex webs to hide away from customers. That has then led to many of them falling into financial trouble.
It also shows that water companies are tone-deaf. They can’t go on rewarding bosses as if it's business as usual.