Louise Beardmore, chief executive officer of the North West water giant was paid a total of £1,254,000 in 2024/25.
The £172,153 annual salary of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer could fit into the water boss’s total pay about seven times.
Chief financial officer Phil Aspin received a total of £938,000 during the same period.
Ms Beardmore’s pay for 24/25 included long-term incentives of £415,000, on top of a fixed pay of £839,000, while the CFO received £398,000 in long term incentives. The CEO’s long term incentives relate to the award she was granted in 2022, prior to her appointment as CEO in April 2023.
The company’s Annual Report and Financial Statements for 2025 also reveal that Ms Beardmore would have received a £417,000 annual bonus in 2024/25, were it not for a move by the Government to ban bonuses paid to bosses at six water firms, including United Utilities.
Homeowners throughout the north west pay their water bill to United Utilities. The company recently revealed plans to raise water bills by 32 per cent by 2030, drawing ire from local politicians who point to the number of sewage discharges into the Cumbria’s watercourses.
But a United Utilities spokesperson said that the company has “a long track record of ensuring performance related pay for executives is closely linked to the outcomes that matter most to customers, including drinking water quality, environmental performance and customer service.”
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They stressed that performance related pay is funded by shareholders, not customers and renumeration for executives is determined by independent non-executive directors.
They said: “We continue to focus on our £13 billion investment programme – our biggest ever – which will improve services for customers and the environment, support 30,000 jobs and deliver an estimated £35 billion of economic value to the North West.”
Water companies like United are permitted to discharge untreated wastewater into watercourses when the sewage system becomes overwhelmed by heavy rainfall.
One such incident, on January 27, saw a United Utilities appliance discharge into the River Derwent at Grange for more than seven hours.
The practice prevents the flooding of homes and businesses but United says less of the outflows will be necessary under its investment programme.
A social media user quizzed the company on Friday, asking the justification for a nine per cent increase on his yearly water bill, from £603 to £660.
He was told that increases are due to the company’s ongoing infrastructure improvements.
An example of the company’s work to reduce storm outflows is the expansion of its wastewater treatment plant at Morland in Eden.