trending Market Intelligence /marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/2AJBGpgvLylKamZtUDPdVg2 content esgSubNav
In This List

NextEra reports largest CEO to median employee pay ratio in 2018

Podcast

Next in Tech | Episode 49: Carbon reduction in cloud

Blog

Using ESG Analysis to Support a Sustainable Future

Research

US utility commissioners: Who they are and how they impact regulation

Blog

Q&A: Datacenters: Energy Hogs or Sustainability Helpers?


NextEra reports largest CEO to median employee pay ratio in 2018

The spread between compensation for top utility executives and median employees widened for several companies in 2018 but worker salaries also increased at nine electricity providers.

S&P Global Market Intelligence analyzed public disclosures for the top 20 U.S. electric utilities by market capitalization as of Dec. 31, 2018.

NextEra Energy Inc. had the largest reported CEO to median employee pay ratio of 170-to-1 in 2018, the analysis shows.

NextEra Chairman, President and CEO James Robo was the highest-paid executive in the U.S. utilities industry in 2018 with total adjusted compensation of $20.5 million, a 13.6% increase from $18.1 million in 2017. The median employee's annual total compensation in 2018 was $125,365, the company reported in its proxy statement.

This is the second year that companies have had to reveal the CEO to median employee pay ratio.

The SEC in 2017 implemented a rule that required companies in the 2018 proxy season to disclose the annual compensation of their median employee and the ratio between that individual's pay and the chief executive officer. The initial pay ratio disclosures were based off full-year 2017 compensation.

NextEra reported a ratio of 155-to-1 for 2017 and a median employee pay of $121,355.

Duke Energy Corp., meanwhile, had the largest reported ratio of 175-to-1 based on 2017 compensation with a median employee pay of $122,365.

Duke Energy Chairman, President and CEO Lynn Good was the highest-paid utility executive in 2017 with total adjusted compensation of $21.1 million.

The company reported a 119-to-1 CEO to median employee pay ratio based on 2018 compensation.

Good earned $13.8 million in total adjusted compensation in 2018, a 34.6% decrease from 2017. Duke Energy estimated the median of its 2018 annual total compensation for employees, excluding the CEO, to be $117,132.

SNL Image

Of the top 20 utilities subject to the most recent analysis, Edison International reported the highest median employee compensation at $166,888 with a pay ratio of 59-to-1. The California electric utility disclosed in its proxy statement that President and CEO Pedro Pizarro's total compensation for 2018 was $9,824,871.

Edison International also disclosed that Southern California Edison Co. President and CEO Kevin Payne's total compensation for 2018 was $3,124,248, while the median of the total 2018 compensation of the utility subsidiary's employees was $148,404. This equates to a 21-to-1 CEO to median employee pay ratio at Southern California Edison.

PPL Corp. reported a pay ratio of 140-to-1 with the lowest median employee compensation of the utilities analyzed at $81,211. PPL also had the lowest median employee pay of $104,520 in an analysis of 2017 compensation.

PPL Chairman and CEO William Spence's total compensation in 2018 was $11,338,785, while the median employee's total compensation was $81,211, the company said in its proxy statement.

PPL, which operates an electric distribution business in the U.K., said its median employee was identified by using its global employee population as of Oct. 1, 2018.

Portland General Electric Co. reported the lowest CEO pay ratio range of 27-to-1 in 2018, while its median employee compensation increased to $118,209. The utility said in its proxy statement that the President and CEO Maria Pope's annual total compensation for 2018 was $3,216,062.

SNL Image