Talen Energy Corp.'s Mark McFarland was the highest-paid CEO in the utilities sector in 2023, based on a combination of cash compensation, stocks and options granted and nonequity incentive plan compensation.
McFarland, who took charge of the independent power producer in April as part of a restructuring agreement to bring the company out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, received total adjusted compensation of $30 million in 2023, including $27.7 million in stock awards, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis of the 10 highest-paid US utility executives in 2023. Nonequity compensation typically describes cash awards unrelated to stock performance.
Talen stock began trading June 2, 2023, and shares gained over 37% through the end of the year. The company's price skyrocketed in 2024 after Talen sold its hyperscale datacenter in Pennsylvania to Amazon.com Inc. in April for $650 million. The campus, which has up to 960 MW of datacenter capacity, is adjacent to and will be powered by Talen's 2,494-MW Susquehanna Nuclear power plant in Luzerne County, Pa. Other nuclear plant operators are now looking to sign similar deals for supplying behind-the-meter electricity to large tech companies.
Talen faces challenges from utility companies to Susquehanna's proposed interconnection service agreement with PPL Corp., which would support the datacenter, but ultimately expects the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve the amended agreement once it receives additional information from the PJM Interconnection LLC, McFarland said during an Aug. 13 conference call.
FirstEnergy Corp.'s Brian Tierney was the the second-highest-paid utility CEO in 2023, with $26.4 million in total compensation. Tierney was named CEO starting June 1, 2023, succeeding interim President and CEO John Somerhalder II, who had been appointed after an internal review designed to improve corporate governance.
Earlier in 2023, FirstEnergy agreed to divest an additional 30% stake in subsidiary FirstEnergy Transmission LLC to Brookfield Super-Core Infrastructure Partners LP for $3.5 billion in cash.
Of the highest-paid utility executives in 2023, only Duke Energy Corp.'s Lynn Good saw her pay package decrease.
Montauk Renewables Inc. CEO Sean McClain saw the biggest increase in compensation, from $400,000 in 2022 to $3 million in 2023. The company, headquartered in Pittsburgh, recovers biogas from landfills for reuse.
Southern Co.'s Christopher Womack, Avangrid Inc.'s Pedro Blazquez, Xcel Energy Inc.'s Robert Frenzel, CenterPoint Energy Inc.'s Jason Wells and PacifiCorp's Cindy Crane also saw their pay packages grow more than 100% compared to 2023.
In December 2023, Berkshire Hathaway Energy subsidiary PacifiCorp agreed to pay $299 million to individual plaintiffs to settle claims related to September 2020 wildfires. The utility disclosed Aug. 5 that it faces at least $46 billion in claims related to those fires.
Plaintiffs in four separate mass complaints filed in the Multnomah County Circuit Court in Portland, Ore., are seeking $43 billion in economic, noneconomic and punitive damages linked to the catastrophic blazes. The complaints are part of broader litigation that has yielded several jury verdicts against PacifiCorp. The utility is appealing those verdicts.
