Water boss makes £30m at Britain’s biggest polluter United Utilities

The recently retired United Utilities boss made £30 million when he ran Britain’s biggest water polluter.

The huge amount of money paid to Steve Mogford since he became CEO in 2011 is considered a record for the water industry, according to The Mail on Sunday, the sister title of This is Money.

It would have been even higher if he had not surrendered a ‘material’ part of his bonus last year, documents show.

News of the bumper payout comes as United, the monopoly water supplier for 7 million people in North West England, came under fire last week over a massive raw sewage dump that led to a 14-mile stretch of coastline around Blackpool was closed to swimmers.

Environmental activist Feargal Sharkey branded United as “by far the largest waste processor in the country” and urged the government to consider issuing a writ of injunction, which would give it the power to fine the company up to 10 percent of its revenue.

According to the Environment Agency, by 2022 there were an average of 825 landfills per day in England’s waterways, taking a total of 1.75 million hours.

United was named the UK’s most polluting water company last year but still holds a top 4-star environmental rating from the regulator.

Mogford, who has been replaced as CEO by Louise Beardmore, took home £2.3 million in his final year, including £1.3 million in bonuses. That was less than the £3.2 million he received in 2022 after he decided to waive part of his bonus linked to environmental performance – even though targets were largely met.

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat environmental spokesman whose constituency of Cumbria is covered by United Utilities, said: ‘The system is clearly broken when water bosses are awarded millions of pounds for destroying the environment.

“This is a slap in the face to people who are seeing their water bills rise and our precious rivers and lakes polluted with sewage from United Utilities. The State Secretary for the Environment must wake up and put an end to the shameless extortionate profits of water companies.’

Campaigners have criticized the industry for giving executives huge pay packages and massive dividends to shareholders while underinvesting in Victorian-era infrastructure.

United said Mogford’s performance-related pay was “directly linked to the achievement of ambitious targets aligned with the interests of customers and stakeholders.”