Scottish water bosses to get £400k pay rise amid customer price hike

Scottish Water bosses have received £400,000 in pay rises despite hiking prices by nearly 10% for customers.

The total cost of senior executive salaries rose to almost £1.4m in 2025, up from just more than £1.1m the year before, the body’s annual report released on Wednesday shows.

The chief executive Alex Plant’s salary has gone up by £50,000 and now sits at £295,000. His total pay packet, including pension contributions, totals £523,000.

Scottish Labour has said the “eye-watering” salary increases will “stick in the craw” for people across the country who are paying higher water bills this year.

“People across Scotland are struggling to make ends meet, yet the wages of bosses at Scottish Water are eye-watering and continue to rise,” Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie said.

Baillie said water bosses are picking up “hefty incentive bonuses totalling more than £230,000” at the expense of Scottish taxpayers.

From April, the average household bill increased by £44 per year. That’s on top of a 8.8% rise the year before.

Scottish Water said more investment was needed as current infrastructure is put under “significant pressure” by more extreme weather conditions, such as more periods of drought and intense rainfall.

The Scottish Lib Dems said this year’s pay rises are the third highest on record, despite water bills going up sharply and 24,398 sewage dumps last year.

“The SNP government is rewarding their water company for failure,” Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said.

“Scottish Water are paying out enormous bonuses to bosses who are presiding over filthy sewage dumps and hitting customers with bigger bills.”

Chief operating officer Peter Farrer saw his salary fall by around £20,000 but his overall package increased to £312,000.

Chief financial officer Alan Dingwall, who joined the firm last year, was paid a salary of £175,000 and a total package of £293,000.

But the body’s annual report also shows a record performance in the past year in customer satisfaction – which hit 94% – as well as other positive results in leak reduction and the halving of serious pollution, leading Mr Plant to describe the past 12 months as “our strongest year ever”.

A spokesman for the utility company said: “Scottish Water is one of the largest and best-performing utilities in the UK, but executive pay is significantly lower than in similarly sized private companies, where we need to compete for talent.

“Across the business, the biggest percentage pay rises have been given to the lowest-paid workers, narrowing the gap between the chief executive’s pay and median employee earnings, which is already much smaller than the pay ratios in other companies of our scale.

“Total remuneration also includes pension contributions and variable pay related to performance, which is only paid when the business delivers strong results, as it did last year, with 94% customer satisfaction.

“Every Scottish Water employee is eligible for an annual outperformance payment.”

The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.