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Thames Water paid its finance chief a £1m signing-on fee in July as the company struggles with a mountain of debt and faces temporary nationalisation.
Steve Buck joined the company in April 2025 but it is understood the seven-figure payment was not made until last month after the company had taken legal advice over its contractual obligations.
The existence of the payment, first reported by Sky News,, external was apparently revealed in a letter from the Thames Water chairman to MPs on the Commons Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.
The money is believed to have come from emergency funding provided by Thames Water's lenders.
The utility company owes roughly £20bn and has been working with creditors and government officials to find a way forward.
Failure to reach a deal could lead to Thames Water being forced into a "special administration regime", a form of temporary nationalisation intended to keep the business operating until a viable solution can be found.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has previously said he would like to see "greater public control" of key water and energy utilities.
Speaking to the BBC last month, Thames Water boss Chris Weston warned the special administration could see taxpayers left bearing the cost.
Instead, he threw his weight behind a rescue deal that has been put forward by the firm's lenders.
Thames Water has faced intense criticism for several years over failures to prevent sewage discharges and leaks.
Last year it was handed a record fine of £122.7m from the regulator Ofwat, who said the company had "let down its customers and failed to protect the environment".
Weston said he wanted the company to "do better" but some of the targets it had been set were "not realistic".
