Speeches by Tufnell.

“I just want to try to understand something, just to begin with. You are one of the top performers for outcome delivery incentives. That allows higher bills as a reward for good performance. I am just trying to understand which metrics, in terms of that outperformance, justify the extra funding.”

“Maybe we will be able to get clarity if you provide this in writing.”

“It affects the asset value of the company. That has an impact on the retained earnings, which then feeds into the profits and the dividends.”

“Yes, we have no comparison.”

“I am not asking about like-for-like. This is a very specific question.”

“I am struggling because, without the amount, in 2023-24, your retained earnings would reduce from £1.68 billion to £7.9 million. Profits over the same period were £1.246 billion. Effectively, Severn Trent Water paid out £369 million more than it made in profit in that period. That is the issue, and that is the bit that…”

“Would you say that Ofwat is almost trying to be too ambitious in terms of pushing that down when trying to get that investment?”

“I just wanted to touch on this gearing issue and break it down a bit more. We heard yesterday from Yorkshire Water, which was much more comfortable with 70%. Ofwat has set out that it wants gearing of 55%. You are at 67% and want to get down to 64%. Is Ofwat wrong to have this level of 55%, if we are hearing from you t…”

“Is 25% too much?”

“I am just going to come back to the pay point. Your pay is £3.2 million. You have said that those sewage spills do not make you feel good. We touched upon that Ofwat link. They say that “performance-related executive pay does not demonstrate a substantial link to delivery for customers and the environment”. You have ju…”

“Your profit was at £201 million.”

“Your dividend payments to shareholders outstrip the profits being made by your company.”

“I am sorry. Just quickly on dividends, you are responsible for more than 60,000 sewage spills lasting more than 440,000 hours, according to the latest report, which comes back to environmental performance. That is fine.”

“That is your plan to provide 4.1%, but you have been receiving 6.5%.”

“It was 6.5%.”

“Just stepping back, after all we have heard today, you have the largest pay package amongst all water company executives. The total shareholder return is nearly 15%. That is not quite as high as United Utilities, which has the highest returns. That level of return is coupled with your level of pay. When we compare that…”

“I am moving on separately.”

“Ofwat has said that your policy on performance-related pay “does not demonstrate a substantial link to delivery for customers and the environment”. That is in respect to you specifically.”

“We have established that you are a key player in the water sector and you have other roles outside of the company.”

“Stepping back, does that need to be re-evaluated? There is a pending class action lawsuit against six companies, including you, in respect to charging higher water bills for that performance?”