About 30 years too late, many might say, here comes Ofwat with details on how it will “crack down”, as it puts it, on executive pay in the English water sector. Since the regulator’s new powers to interfere on boardroom pay don’t kick in until next year, this year’s assessment can be considered an explainer on how a new offside rule will work.
And the news from the video assistant referee is that Severn Trent, South West Water and Portsmouth Water committed offences that “did not meet our expectations”, says Ofwat, because either short- or long-term incentives were insufficiently aligned to good outcomes for customers or the environment. Does that mean the executives would have faced the humiliation of returning their dodgy rewards?
