Water watchdogs have been accused of ‘rewarding failure’ after handing their top official a bumper pay rise while consumers raged against soaring bills.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that David Black, chief executive of water industry regulator Ofwat, has received a pay hike of at least £15,000.

That took his pay on the most recently published figures to between £180,000 and £185,000 – more than the Prime Minister who currently earns just under £167,000.

It also emerged that Mr Black is currently on annual leave at a time when water companies are launching appeals against the regulator’s price rulings.

The revelations come amid fears that households in England and Wales are now facing average water bill rises of £10 a month and amid claims the entire industry is letting consumers down over cost and sewage seeping into rivers.

They also come amid a Government-commissioned review into the water industry, with Environment Secretary Steve Reed saying he was ‘not ruling out’ getting rid of Ofwat all together.

And last night, campaigners and MPs alike condemned the scale of the salary hikes awarded to Mr Black.

Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael, chairman of the powerful Commons’ environment, food and rural affairs committee, told the Mail on Sunday: ‘This feels like rewarding failure.’

He added: ‘Water company customers are facing massive hikes in their bills while seeing bosses of the companies that supply them getting paid telephone number salaries plus bonuses.

‘Now to see the Chief Executive of the regulator that oversees this mess bring in a salary greater than that paid to the Prime Minister can only fuel the anger already felt by many people who are struggling to make ends meet.’

Cat Hobbs, director of the ‘We Own It’ campaign to bring water companies back into public ownership, said: ‘At a time when bills are rising, raw sewage is being pumped into our waterways and companies like Thames Water are on the brink of collapse – this pay rise will feel like a slap in the face to many billpayers.

‘The regulator has proven totally ineffective at curbing the reckless behaviour of the water companies.’

However. Ofwat insisted last night that Mr Black’s salary increase was ‘appropriate’.

The pay hike was revealed in the water watchdog’s annual accounts for the financial year 2023/24 but which was only published earlier this month.

That showed that the chief executive’s pay had risen from a range of £160,000 to £165,000 in 2022/23 to between £180,00 and £185,000 in 2023/24.

Ofwat declined to say yesterday what Mr Black currently earned.

It emerged on Friday that Thames Water, which has 16 million customers, is now appealing against Ofwat’s ruling limiting its bill rises over the next five years to 35 per cent.

Other water companies are also expected to fight Ofwat decisions before this Tuesday’s deadline for appeals.

Ofwat sources denied that the chief executive had to be on duty while those appeals were lodged, saying Ofwat’s price review director Chris Walters would handle the issues.

A spokesperson also defended Mr Black’s pay rise, saying that his salary was ‘reviewed by the Ofwat People Committee (comprising the Chair and a number of the non-executive directors).

‘Taking account of the scale, complexity and challenges of the role, and benchmarking against the salary of Chief Executives in equivalent regulatory organisations, it was identified that an increase in salary would be appropriate.’

He added: ‘The process and the salary increase applied was in accordance with the Government pay guidance for Senior Civil Servants.’