Enmax boosts dividend to City of Calgary and compensation to its top executives

The tone at city hall these days might be cutbacks and restraint, but the bottom line at city-owned Enmax improved last year it has increased its dividend to the city by 25 per cent.

Salaries and bonuses for its five top executives went up between three and 17 per cent.

"Our profits went up, our performance went up. Our expectation of the future was also looking bright," said Greg Melchin, the chair of Enmax's board.

"And yes, this is the right time to consider changes to executive compensation."

Melchin says Enmax does benchmark its salaries against those of other executives in their sector and it aims for the 50th percentile, so it neither leads the pack nor has the lowest-paid leadership..

But, given that Enmax's financial outlook is improving, he says there were some raises in its corporate suite.

"We'll make sometimes significant adjustments if a person's job description changes or the scope of the operation changesthe size, complexity so that will changecontinuously," Melchin said, adding that Enmax needs to be competitive and attract new talent.

Given that CEO Gianna Manes announced Tueaday she will leave the utility next year, finding a new CEO is on the company's to-do list and a competitive pay packagewill be a key lure in finding a new boss.