Publicly owned Scottish Water’s CEO, Alex Plant, earns £295,000 per year, less than any other water company CEO in the UK. Anglian Water outbid Scottish Water and it operates a joint venture with Northumbrian Water Group called Wave. You probably thought, as I once did, that all of Scotland’s water remained in public hands following the Strathclyde Regional Council referendum in 1994 where 97% of voters (75.1% of the electorate turned out) rejected the UK’s proposal to privatise Scotland’s water. Before the last English Labour Holyrood administration was evicted from office in 2007, they half-privatised Scotland’s water, creating Business Stream Ltd, based in Dunfermline. In 2024 Scottish Water also raised prices to domestic customers by 8.8%, but invested £1.02 billion to upgrade and replace water and waste water assets across Scotland.

Source: The Guardian November 23, 2024 20:33 UTC