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Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive of gas and electricity giant EDF Energy, got a £200,000 pay rise last year at a time when it put up prices for customers and saw profits plunge.
De Rivaz was paid £900,000 in 2008, accounts published today showed.
In that period, pre-tax profit fell to £252 million from £305 million a year earlier as gas prices fluctuated wildly.
Revenues jumped to £6.6 billion from £5.8 billion but higher fuel and energy prices, as well as losses on energy derivative contracts, hit the bottom line hard. Despite putting up prices for households, the business actually made a £103 million loss in its electricity and gas supply division compared with a profit of £63 million the previous year.
Profits rose in its networks division, making up some of the shortfall.
EDF Energy is owned by the giant French EDF utility which recently bought nuclear power group British Energy in a deal that makes it Britain's biggest player in nuclear power. It is not stated how much de Rivaz was paid by the parent company during the period.
Reader views (1)
Well, I guess such news should not raise any eyebrows after much more exorbitant amounts were paid as bonuses to CEOs of US financial institutions whose companies were going under - not just making losses.
That said however, I think we should not expect direct relationship between a CEO's incentives and a temporary profit or loss. If a company has been losing money for a few years and if the CEO still takes home fat bonuses, well, that's quite another thing.
NS @ Alternative Profits - http://www.altprofits.com/ref/report/report.html
- Alternative Energy Profits, Chennai, India
