A Cornish MP responds to the reinstatement of Susan Davy’s bonus.

A CORNISH MP has written to Pennon Group chief executive officer Keith Haslett demanding urgent clarity over the reinstatement of a bonus payment awarded to former CEO Susan Davy.

Mark Stevens www.cornish-times.co.uk

Anna Gelderd, MP for South East Cornwall [Labour}, is calling for full transparency from the company and assurances that any bonus payments made to senior executives are completely separate from customer bills, as concerns continue to grow among residents over water company performance, sewage pollution and environmental standards.

The letter comes after widespread reporting that Susan Davy was awarded a £270,000 bonus despite a series of major issues affecting customers and communities, including sewage discharges across South East Cornwall and the cryptosporidium outbreak in the Brixham area.

The reports have prompted a strong public reaction, with many residents questioning whether senior leadership rewards reflect the challenges faced by customers who continue to experience concerns over water quality, pollution and the reliability of services.

In her letter to Mr Haslett, Ms Gelderd raised concerns that have been shared with her by local residents across her South East Cornwall constituency. Many people have told the MP that they expect their water bills to be used to provide essential services, maintain and improve infrastructure, and protect the environment, rather than contributing towards bonuses for former company executives.

Ms Gelderd has also asked what measures Pennon Group is taking to restore public confidence following repeated environmental and service failures. She highlighted the importance of rebuilding trust between water companies and the communities they serve.

Commenting on the situation, Ms Gelderd said: “People in South East Cornwall should not be paying for the bonus of a former water company CEO who repeatedly failed to deliver for its customers. Local residents already face some of the highest water bills in the country, while our waterways continue to suffer from sewage pollution.

“Enough is enough. That’s why I have written to the new chief executive officer of Pennon Group, Keith Haslett, to demand explanations over whether customer bills have paid for this bonus, and if pollution incidents are taken into account when deciding bonuses.”

Since being elected, Ms Gelderd says she has consistently raised concerns about water quality and sewage pollution affecting Cornish waters – and her work has included organising a beach clean at Seaton Beach to collect important data for the Marine Conservation Society, regularly challenging water quality issues in Parliament, and meeting with Water Minister Emma Hardy MP to discuss the impact of sewage pollution on local communities.

She has also directly challenged senior leadership at South West Water over environmental performance, customer impact and the need for improvements.

Ms Gelderd’s campaigning has contributed to the River Fowey in Lostwithiel being designated as a bathing water site, strengthening protections for local waterways and increasing recognition of the importance of protecting Cornwall’s natural environment.

She has also said she will continue pressing for accountability from water companies and campaigning for long-term improvements to the health of Cornish rivers, beaches and seas.

How can this possibly be? 

South West Water has no plans in the pipeline to cut pollution (E.coli and phosphates) in river Otter, the river it uses as a “Free open sewer” to carry Honton overflows to the sea.

Has the woman no conscience? And OFWAT still no TEETH!- Owl

Water boss receives £270,000 bonus despite parasite outbreak

www.telegraph.co.uk 21 June

Former chief executive, who claimed to suffer from ‘sleepless nights’ during scandal, accepts payout

A company that pumped parasite-infected drinking water to thousands of homes in south-west England has paid a £270,000 bonus to the boss who oversaw the scandal.

Susan Davy quit last year as chief executive of Pennon, the listed group that owns South West Water, after a series of crises prompted the company to halt her bonuses.

But these payouts have been reinstated by the board.

The bonuses were initially withheld after a cryptosporidium contamination incident affecting 17,000 homes in Brixham, Devon, in May 2024. The crisis lasted 54 days and led to more than 140 people falling ill.

At the time, Ms Davy apologised to consumers, and claimed the incident led to her suffering “sleepless nights”.

However, she has accepted a £270,000 bonus for 2024-25 and an £87,000 bonus for 2025-26.

This came on top of a base salary and benefits of £561,000 for 2024-25, and £473,000 for the nine months she worked last financial year.

Together with pensions and share allocations, she earned more than £1m in 2024-25.

In its annual report, Pennon said: “The [Brixham] incident has already been reflected in directors’ remuneration, through the cancellation of the annual bonus for relevant directors in respect of the 2023-24 financial year”.

In a footnote, the company said it had initially withheld the payouts to Ms Davy while waiting for guidance from Ofwat over how the regulator would implement its newly acquired power to ban bonuses.

In March, Ofwat set out the triggers for scrapping bonuses, which include a water company being responsible for a “Category 1” pollution incident.

The Brixham incident was not Category 1. But South West Water last year had a chemical spillage at its Menagwins plant in Cornwall that reached this threshold.

The company said this meant Ms Davy’s bonuses related only to her performance across Pennon’s other companies, Bristol Water, Bournemouth Water and SES Water.

In July, South West Water was fined £1.8m for the Brixham incident after pleading guilty to supplying water unfit for human consumption and offering a “full and unreserved apology”.

Judge Stuart Smith of Exeter Court described it as “a major public health incident”.

He said the harm had been “wide-ranging and profound”, and “disruption to daily life was extensive”, claiming that South West Water had shown a “systemic failure of governance”.

After the fine, Keith Haslett, Ms Davy’s replacement as chief executive, said: “We must learn lessons from this incident and work hard to rebuild trust with the customers and communities we serve.”

An Ofwat spokesman said its new rules had blocked £4m of bonuses to water companies in its first year of operation.

“Rebuilding public trust in the water sector is vital and central to our rules on executive pay,” the spokesman said. “We are currently reviewing companies’ remuneration decisions and will not hesitate to take action where we find breaches of our rules.”

Pennon said that, in accordance with Ofwat’s new rules, the latest bonuses would be funded at group level rather than by the individual water companies, “and will therefore not be funded by customers”.