Snowy Hydro EBITDA rises 6% to $756.8 million as CEO pay falls below $2 million

Snowy Hydro reported an EBITDA of $756.8 million for the 2025-26 financial year, according to RenewEconomy. This figure represents a 6% increase from the $714.2 million recorded in the previous year. The Commonwealth-owned company released its annual report on Friday, hours after an updated assessment of its 2.2-gigawatt Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project.

Chief executive Dennis Barnes received total benefits of less than $2 million for the 2025-26 year, the second year running below that mark.

Snowy 2.0 cost and timeline

The updated assessment allows for a cost scenario of as much as $25 billion for Snowy 2.0 and pushes full commissioning out to late 2029. Snowy said that in late 2025 it formally instructed its contractor, Future Generation Joint Venture (FGJV), to carry out a line-by-line reforecast of the construction program and costings. The annual report cited the project’s unique nature, its risk and technical complexity, and “FGJV’s cost estimation challenges” as reasons for allowing for the $25 billion scenario, and said Snowy would continue to hold FGJV to account.

CEO Dennis Barnes described the cost blowout and project delay as "very disappointing". RenewEconomy said the update also raised fresh questions about the project’s viability.

Executive compensation details

• CEO Dennis Barnes received total benefits of $2.051 million for the 2024-25 financial year.
• His total benefits for the 2023-24 year were $2.298 million.
• For the year to June, his base salary rose to $1,845,126.
• Total compensation, inclusive of superannuation and leave provisions, amounted to $1,889,752.
• Variable pay for the 2025-26 period was $0.
• Variable pay in the 2024-25 year was $322,500.
• Variable pay in the 2023-24 year was $503,300.
• Five top executives at Snowy Hydro are each set to receive over $1 million.
• Non-executive director Sussan Ley has an expected annual fee of $128,590.

Barnes’s base salary rose for the year to June, but he received no short-term variable pay, which had added about $322,500 and $503,300 to his package in the two previous years. That is why his total fell below the $2.051 million of 2024-25 and $2.298 million of 2023-24. RenewEconomy put his 2025-26 package at about $36,300 a week, roughly triple the pay of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and 4.5 times that of climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen.

All five top Snowy executives will receive more than $1 million each in total benefits for the year. Sussan Ley, the former Coalition opposition leader and former environment minister, joined the board as a non-executive director in September and can expect a fee in the order of $128,590 a year if the past two years are a guide.

Portfolio and financial targets

A new offtake agreement signed during the year took Snowy Hydro’s total contracted wind and solar portfolio to 1,980 megawatts, the annual report said. The company also executed its first two grid-scale battery agreements, “adding short-duration storage to Snowy’s increasingly diverse portfolio”.

To pay for the higher Snowy 2.0 costs, Snowy said it is working closely with its shareholder, the federal government, “to develop an appropriate capital structure for Snowy Hydro to support the increase in costs and maintain Snowy Hydro’s target credit rating of BBB+”.

The annual report did not disclose an estimated net present value for Snowy 2.0 and did not include any impairment of the project’s value.

What to watch

Nine days ago, Luminity reported that chief operating officer Maia Schweizer had confirmed a review of Snowy 2.0’s costs was imminent, when the project’s listed cost stood at $12 billion. That review has now produced the $25 billion scenario. The next step is the capital structure Snowy and the federal government settle on to absorb the increase while keeping the BBB+ rating target.

Pumped hydro elsewhere is also under strain: Luminity reported on 22 October that Alinta cancelled its 900-megawatt Oven Mountain pumped hydro project in New South Wales. Alinta cited economic and timing challenges on key elements, including a critical transmission line, as the reason for the withdrawal.

Snowy is also commissioning the 660-megawatt Kurri Kurri gas plant in the Hunter region, which may run on diesel if gas supply is interrupted; Schweizer called gas availability a real challenge for thermal assets. The annual report coverage did not give an update on that plant.