Cliff Notes
- Thames Water’s CEO, Chris Weston, apologised for inadequate customer service and pledged improvements, amid rising bills and service disruptions.
- His recent parliamentary appearance questioned a £195,000 bonus received after just three months, despite the company’s severe financial distress and debt of £19bn.
- Thames Water chairman, Sir Adrian Montague, stated the firm narrowly avoided financial collapse, highlighting a critical liquidity situation.
I was worth my six-figure bonus, says under-fire Thames Water boss
Thames Water chief executive Chris Weston has apologised to customers and promised to turn the failing utility company around.
He told Sky News: “I’m sorry that the service that the customers receive… it’s not where we would like it to be, everyone is very committed in terms of trying and sorting it out.
“So, absolutely I’m very sorry about the service some people receive, but it will absolutely get fixed.”
It came after a tense appearance in front of MPs from the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee during which his own bonus of £195,000 – which he received after just three months in the role – was called into question.
The parliamentary hearing coincides with spiralling bills for customers, who face paying hundreds of pounds more for their water supply over the coming years.
He defended the payout, saying he had joined the struggling company in January 2024 because it “matters to society”.
He added: “I think that within the first three months, I did make a difference. I started to put in place the new organisation structure, I started to give people confidence and reassurance about how proud they could be of the job they did and what we were setting out to do.”
Thames Water customers have faced significant service disruption in recent years, including a boil water notice in Bramley, near Guildford, last summer and a 40% rise in sewage spills in 2024.
It has also struggled to raise investment, repay its debt pile, which now stands at £19bn after an emergency loan prevented it from running out of money and entering state control.
Also appearing before the committee was Thames Water chairman Sir Adrian Montague, who tried to reassure MPs that they would get the firm’s finances back on track despite recent moments of near collapse.
He said: “The fact of the matter is, as we’ve noted on several occasions, Thames in the last year has come very close to running out of money entirely.
“There were times in the last year that we had five weeks’ liquidity – and running a £20bn corporation on five weeks’ liquidity, honestly, it’s hair-raising.”