IT MAY be pandering to the rancour and even the envy of millions of consumers at a time when they are having pay restraint urged upon them by the government, but its threat to use the law to curb the salary excesses of the so-called "fat cat" bosses of the privatised utilities will not harm its popularity.

For unwholesome resentment apart, the bosses are actually asking for such treatment - when, as the tiny-percentage public-sector guideline the government has set for all pay increases, is mocked by the average leap last year of 18 per cent in the salaries of directors of the utilities.

Not only does this outstrip the overall excess in boardrooms generally, but some utility chief executives took as much as 40 per cent extra. It is not just that this is oblivious bad example, for what is fundamentally wrong with it is that it is funded by consumers whose interests are supposed to be looked after by regulators, but whose concerns about the kind of service they get and how much it costs them can often be easily ignored because, until lately and, in some cases, still, they have little choice.

When the government warns that it may intervene to give shareholders more control over directors' pay "unless there is a more positive approach by all companies," it is up to the bosses to pay heed.

Meantime, the often rubber-toothed watchdogs for each industry are urged to growl, though they may hardly be heard or listened to over the sound of popping champagne corks in the utility firms' executive suites.

If he wants to add bite to his bark, Treasury Minister Stephen Byers should threaten the fat cats with giving the customers a powerful say in the matter or with the government having decisive influence by becoming the judge as the owner of a key "golden" share in each utility company.

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