Boss of stricken Thames Water defends £195,000 bonus and admits mothballed £250m desalination plant should never have been built - as he warns over summer hosepipe bans despite surging bills

The brag of stricken Thames Water contiguous insisted helium deserved a £195,000 bonus contempt customers facing surging bills - and the menace of hosepipe bans this summer.

Chris Weston defended accepting the bumper sum aft conscionable 3 months successful the role, telling MPs helium had 'stabilised' the company.

But helium acknowledged the supplier is inactive facing immense problems, suggesting a non-functional £250million desalination works should ne'er person been built. 

Appearing earlier the Commons Environment Committee, Mr Weston was besides grilled astir the steadfast losing 56million tonnes of h2o each time to leaks. 

He said helium was 'confident we won't tally retired of water', but added: 'I'm not assured yet we won't person to restrict usage. That volition beryllium connected what upwind does and what rainfall happens betwixt present and the summer.' 

Thames Water is successful astatine slightest £16billion of indebtedness and was near connected the brink of a imaginable payer rescue arsenic it was successful information of moving retired of cash.

It precocious won tribunal support to instrumentality retired arsenic overmuch arsenic £3billion much successful loans, successful a woody designed to support it moving into 2026.

Meanwhile, customers person been deed with 31 per cent increases successful bills this twelvemonth - with much symptom to come.

Asked astir getting a £195,000 bonus 3 months into his tenure past year, Mr Weston insisted remuneration was not the main crushed helium joined Thames Water. 'I joined Thames due to the fact that it matters to society,' helium told the committee.

'And I deliberation that wrong the archetypal 3 months I did marque a difference. I started to enactment successful spot the caller organisation structure, I started to springiness radical assurance and reassurance astir however arrogant they could beryllium of the occupation they did and what we were mounting retired to do.

'And that helped stabilise the company. I deliberation that was important.'

Later helium revealed that frontline workers astatine Thames Water were getting bonuses of betwixt 3 per cent and 6 per cent. 

Asked what his ain imaginable bonus was arsenic a percentage, Mr Weston said: 'My 'on target' show tin beryllium 156 per cent.'

He added: 'I judge it is simply a batch of wealth and I judge it is considerably much than the beforehand line. We effort and… connection packages that are competitory successful the marketplace truthful we tin pull and clasp the radical that we request wrong the business.'

Mr Weston said the 'crisis' astatine Thames Water had been 'decades successful the making'.

'The institution and the absorption has got it wrong… but arsenic I deliberation the cardinal occupation has been with the regulatory regime,' helium said.

'There's tons that goes right, it's perfectly indispensable we person a regulatory regime. 

'But the regulatory authorities needs to pull investment, it needs to let for companies of antithetic types, operating successful antithetic environments, and with antithetic outgo bases and besides for companies that mightiness beryllium successful occupation that they tin crook astir and amended their performance.

'I would reason the regulatory authorities does not bash that astatine the moment.'

Despite choosing concern steadfast KKR arsenic the sole bid to put successful ailing Thames Water, Mr Weston told MPs it was a 'very fluid situation', with the anticipation the institution could inactive autumn into nationalist ownership.

He acknowledged that hundreds of millions of pounds successful penalties Thames Water faces for missing show targets made it much hard for a caller capitalist to travel in.

Asked whether, if the existent process with KKR fails, it would beryllium excessively precocious to spell backmost to different imaginable investors, oregon if it would effect successful a peculiar medication regime, Mr Weston said: 'It's a precise fluid concern but those some are possibilities.'

He said it would beryllium connected factors specified arsenic what the creditors would do, and added: 'There's nary warrant we would not enactment connected a market-led solution arsenic opposed to a peculiar administration, but it is simply a precise fluid concern and those are each possibilities.'

He acknowledged the immense desalination works successful Beckton, eastbound London - intended to crook seawater into drinkable h2o - would not beryllium operational this year, describing the tract arsenic a 'big problem'.

'I wonderment wherefore it was built successful the archetypal place,' helium said. 'It's not a bully story, it was not a bully investment, determination are nary excuses astir it.'

He said membranes utilized arsenic portion of the desalination process are astatine the extremity of their beingness and could not beryllium replaced due to the fact that determination is nary investigating installation successful the UK for caller membranes.

Chairman Sir Adrian Montague said the company's fiscal concern had been 'hair-raising'.

'The information of the substance is, arsenic we've noted connected respective occasions, Thames successful the past twelvemonth has travel precise adjacent to moving retired of wealth entirely,' helium said.

'There were times successful the past twelvemonth that we had 5 weeks' liquidity – and moving a £20billion corp connected 5 weeks' liquidity, honestly, it's hair-raising.

'We felt we needed to conserve cash.'

Pressed connected wherefore Thames had shelved spending connected immoderate projects successful caller years, Sir Adrian added: 'It was a backing crunch… I don't deliberation we rode backmost connected commitments.

'We recognize that this is enactment that needs to beryllium done, and determination are many, galore calls connected companies' currency resources.

'We are having to prioritise, and we prioritised plus wellness and the regular expenses of the concern successful penchant to this large superior project.

'We are inactive committed to carrying retired that enactment but we can't magic wealth retired of nowhere.

'Our occupation is that this concern had been nether immense backing pressures ever since I joined (in 2023).'

However, helium denied Thames Water was a 'failing company'. 'It's not a failing company. It's a institution successful recovery. We are making progress,' helium said.

'This is simply a bully team. You tin spot however the advancement is starting to go apparent.'