The boss of Pennon says she has “regret” for the pollution incidents caused by the utilities firm.
Chief executive Susan Davy, whose company owns South West Water, Bristol Water, Bournemouth Water and SES Water, admitted to a group of MPs that "from time to time things do go wrong".
There were 194 individual pollution incidents across the Pennon group between 2023 and 2024, and the company was fined £2.2m in 2023 for illegal sewage spills spanning four years across Devon and Cornwall.
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Ms Davy said: “I absolutely regret and do not condone those incidents and pollutions that we had. We do not want to harm the environment, that is not the activities that we undertake everyday.
“We have hundreds of treatment works and thousands of pumping stations and from time to time things do go wrong.”
The comments follow a major incident in Brixham, in Devon, last year, which saw a parasite outbreak in the water supply. The diarrhoea-inducing cryptosporidium was discovered in a reservoir in May, prompting 17,000 households to boil their drinking water for eight weeks. The company was compelled to clean and flush its water network 27 times, in addition to replacing sections of its grid.
As a result, in November, Pennon revealed that its underlying pre-tax profit had plummeted from a £19.1m profit in the first half of last year to an £18.6m loss.
Ms Davy told MPs on Tuesday: “I absolutely understand how devastating that incident was for that community and for the customers who were poorly… it was a really horrible time for them. I am always sorry when something happens whether to our customers or to the environment,” she added.
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Despite the company coming under fire for pollution incidents, Ms Davy saw her pay package jump 58% last year after picking up a £298,000 share award. Her total pay increased to £860,000 in 2023-24 from £543,000 the previous year.
Last month, Pennon announced plans to raise £490m by issuing new equity shares through a rights issue. The company said at the time that investors would be able to acquire 13 new shares, at a cost of 264p each, for every 20 they already own.
The move is part of a comprehensive financing package aimed at boosting investment over the next five years. The cash will be spent on upgrading the water firm's infrastructure and maintaining debt levels, it said.