The bonus ban worked perfectly. That's why the money moved upstairs
Follow this carefully, because they're counting on you not to. The government bans water bonuses for polluters. The bonuses stop — technically. Then: Wessex raises base salary 14%. Anglian's PARENT company pays £500,000, labelled 'retention'. Yorkshire's chief gets £660,000 from HER parent company, Kelda Holdings. Three companies, one move: when the rule watches the company, pay from above the company. The org chart is the escape route. It was drawn that way.
And who owns the upstairs? Wessex traces to a family holding company incorporated in Jersey — a tax haven — named for a late Malaysian founder. Your water bill flows from your tap, through a 'regulated utility', up a structure the regulator only this year decided to look at. Ofwat will now 'force disclosure'. Now. After the Guardian found £51,000 in payments nobody had mentioned. Disclosure follows discovery, never precedes it. Ask why.
The £791,000 isn't the story. The story is the plumbing — the FINANCIAL plumbing, which works flawlessly, unlike the other kind, which is in the rivers.
Check your own water company's parent. Then its parent. Keep going until you hit an island. There's always an island. You do the math.