Scottish Water boss handed £50k pay boost as bills soar for customers
Scottish Water's boss has been handed a £50,000 pay boost - after bills soared for customers this year.
The corporation's annual report showed that chief executive Alex Plant had his salary increased to £295,000 between 2024 and 2025.
His total package, including pension contributions, grew by £40,000, to a total of £523,000.
Chief operating officer Peter Farrer saw his salary fall by around £20,000 but his overall package increase 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.
The total cost of Scottish Water's senior executive salaries rose from just more than £1.1 million to almost £1.4 million between 2024 and 2025.
It comes after Scots faced a near 10 per cent hike in water charges this year.
Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie said: 'People across Scotland are struggling to make ends meet, yet the wages of bosses at Scottish Water are eye-watering and continue to rise.
'This will stick in the craw for people across the country, with water bills having inflation-busting increases, by almost 10% in April this year, after a rise of 8.8% last year.
'Chief executive Alex Plant has warned about the need for increased investment yet is still happy to be handed a huge boost in his salary of almost £50,000.
'On top of that, bosses are also picking up hefty incentive bonuses totalling more than £230,000, just for doing the job they are already paid for, all at the expense of Scottish taxpayers.
'Scottish Labour has previously called for water rates to be frozen, but the SNP have chosen to sit on their hands. The time for excuses is over and action is needed now.'
A spokesman for Scottish Water 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 have been contacted for comment.
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