Severn Trent doubles CEO long‑term pay plan to £3.1m

financeJul 4, 202611166

Severn Trent has doubled the long-term incentive plan for new chief executive James Jesic from 200% to 400% of his £775,000 base salary, raising the LTIP to about £3.1m and making his theoretical maximum single-year pay package up to £4.8m when salary, annual bonus, benefits and pension are included. The company simultaneously cut Jesic’s potential annual bonus from 120% of salary to 100% and removed an environmental performance measure from future bonus criteria, replacing it with a customer service metric. Severn Trent said the change is consistent with Ofwat rules and argued the removed environmental metric could be heavily influenced by factors outside management’s control; the firm serves about 4.7 million customers across Bristol, the Midlands and east Wales. Jesic began as chief executive in January and received about £740,000 in pro rata salary and bonuses in the first three months of 2026 because he was not chief executive during the pollution incidents that blocked some payments. The company’s move comes amid intense public anger over pollution, including around 36,000 sewage spills lasting more than 200,000 hours in 2025, and follows the blocking of bonuses for Jesic’s predecessor, Liv Garfield, because of environmental failures. Campaigners including River Action’s chief executive said the package will prompt public scrutiny over multimillion-pound pay while the company recorded major pollution incidents.

Prem Sikka

@premnsikka.bsky.social

Severn Trent Water company doubles CEO reward plan to £3.1m despite anger over water pay. Reward for what? 400m litres of water a day lost to leaks. Sewage dumped into rivers for 200,000 hours Customers fleeced No reservoir built since 1989 £12bn paid in dividends Must nationalise water.

1451h ago

Liv's Gaze(4 the gays🌈)7

Funny how “we have to pay top dollar to attract the best talent” never applies to nurses or school teachers isn’t it? 🤔

Geoff Balls3

Like most listed companies, run for the benefit of its senior management first, shareholders second and everyone else not at all.

Jack Moser2

Something tells me the regulator is not ensuring that this water company is delivering on its public service obligations. Irrespective of ownership, lax regulation is the problem.

FairyKnuff1

They fleece the public because they are allowed to do so. It is despicable.

anty41.bsky.social1

This thing must finish people must stop paying the bills and force govt to buy back the companies for £1

Quoting this

Ali2

How does one secure a well rewarded job like this?

Inequality News

@inequalitynews.bsky.social

📢 We'll say it again, the privatised water industry is just a den of thieves. NATIONALISE IT NOW !!!! ✅ No compensation to shareholders or creditors. ✅ Investigate directors for breach of duties. ✅ Investigate directors for trading while insolvent. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

111h ago

The Daily Britain

@thedailybritain.bsky.social

New chief executive James Jesic could earn up to £4.8m in a single year under the company’s revised pay structure. The water company has increased its long-term incentive plan even after environmental failures blocked executive bonuses.

22h ago

LuxJude352

@luxjude352.bsky.social

Are #SevernTrent hoping that this will go under the radar? “The FTSE 100 water company said its long-term incentive plan (LTIP) would increase from 200% of new chief executive James Jesic’s base salary to 400%, according to changes revealed in the company’s most recent annual report.” #r4today

33h ago

Dave - слава Україні #ScrapBrexit #FBPE - NAFO

@krimisukrainian.bsky.social

Time to return the lot of them pu public ownership.... www.theguardian.com/business/202...

12h ago

Ian Moody

@ianmoody.bsky.social

Severn Trent doubles CEO reward plan to £3.1m despite anger over water pay. Increase to long-term incentive plan means James Jesic could significantly outearn predecessor Liv Garfield. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

2Just now

Rogier van der Weyden

@rdeweyden.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/business/202... This is just two fingers held up to consumers. They may as well just send out a photo of the CEO's backside instead of the bills. "Market rate salaries" are a lie.

2h ago

marionvers.bsky.social

@marionvers.bsky.social

STW laughing at - ofwat - the govt - its customers - the environment agency Politics & business by the rich, For the rich Severn Trent doubles CEO reward plan to £3.1m despite anger over water pay www.theguardian.com/business/202...

13h ago

Mark Breeze

@markyb62.bsky.social

Severn Trent spew out similar nonsense. The thing is, it's not all that they spew out. Privatised water has been a disaster - the model simply doesn't deliver what the country needs.

1Yesterday

sergeantpluck.bsky.social

@sergeantpluck.bsky.social

The more money they can extract from bills, and the less they can spend on infrastructure, the bigger the bonus. Simple as that. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

4h ago

Ian Wiggett

@wiggett-ie.bsky.social

Jesic’s theoretical maximum pay packet for a single year could reach £4.8m when including the salary, bonuses, benefits such as an electric car and a £15,000 “green travel allowance”, plus pension contributions.

2h ago

1 source

theguardian.comSevern Trent doubles CEO reward plan to £3.1m despite anger over water pay

Severn Trent doubles CEO long‑term pay plan to £3.1mfinance

Severn Trent doubles CEO long‑term pay plan to £3.1m

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