Water boss admits ‘devastating’ impact of parasite outbreak while pay rises
Pennon’s chief executive Susan Davy said her base salary was rising from £494,000 to £511,000 this year.
The boss of South West Water’s owner has apologised to customers over pollution incidents, including the “devastating” parasite outbreak in Devon, while revealing her salary has risen this year.
Pennon, which also owns supplier SES Water, has come under fire for rising cases of sewage spills affecting customers and the environment.
Chief executive Susan Davy, speaking to a group of MPs on the cross-party Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, admitted that “things do go wrong” for the utilities giant.
“I absolutely regret and do not condone those incidents and pollutions that we had.
“We do not want to harm the environment, that is not the activities that we undertake every day.
“We have hundreds of treatment works and thousands of pumping stations and from time to time things do go wrong.”
Pollution incidents at South West Water – which serves about 1.8 million customers in Cornwall, Devon and parts of Somerset and Dorset – soared by 80% to 194 between 2023 and 2024.
Pennon was fined £2.2 million in 2023 for illegal sewage spills spanning four years across Devon and Cornwall.
Ms Davy told the committee that the company has changed how it checks for water contamination since the crisis in Brixham, Devon, last year.
The outbreak last May left some people in hospital and hundreds of others ill after contamination of the water supply by cryptosporidium, a parasite which causes sickness and diarrhoea.
“I absolutely understand how devastating that incident was for that community and for the customers who were poorly… it was a really horrible time for them,” she said.
“I am always sorry when something happens whether to our customers or to the environment.”
Pennon faced some criticism after announcing in June, following the incident, that Ms Davy’s pay package jumped 58% to £860,000 in 2023-24, after she picked up a long-term share award.
She also told the committee that her base salary was rising from £494,000 to £511,000 this year.
She insisted that she does not set her own pay – that is the responsibility of the company’s remuneration committee – but admitted she was “well paid for what is a very responsible and accountable role”.
“I’ve had a history of not taking annual bonuses – I didn’t take it last year for the cryptosporidium outbreak,” she added.
Meanwhile, South West Water customers are set to see their bills increase by 23% over the coming five years, helping the company pay for improvements to its infrastructure and reduce pollution incidents.
Separately, Yorkshire Water chief executive Nicola Shaw said recent downgrades on its environmental rating are “not the performance we want”.
Last year, the Environment Agency downgraded Yorkshire Water from three stars to two, while the company is also rated red for pollution incidents.
Ms Shaw said: “I don’t disagree with them (regulators), it’s not the performance we want. We need to improve.”
The company is “investing heavily” in its network of pipes, sewers and drains, including £180 million in the last two years, she added.
She said the cash has brought a “big step forward” in tackling the number of sewage spills at the points in its network which have seen the worst amounts of pollution.
Ms Shaw also took home more than £1 million last year, including a £371,000 bonus.
When asked by MPs if she thought the remuneration and criteria for awarding bonuses were fair, she said: “I am very aware of concerns and the board has equally been made aware of them.”
