Energy Future Holdings Corp. is seeking to pay as much as $18 million or more in bonuses to 26 top executives for keeping the company on track during this year's struggle through bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bonus programs already have been approved for 5,700 rank-and-file employees and managers of the Dallas energy company. However, pay enhancements for high-ranking insiders get a close look in chapter 11. The proposed bonuses are continuations of existing incentive-pay programs at Energy Future, with actual payments keyed to hitting specified business targets. Energy Future said in court papers that one major program could pay out a maximum of $15.8 million, if executives hit their top goals. A second major program provides for quarterly payments, so the company knows what targets were hit and is able to estimate the overall payout. The company said that it expects the remaining cost of that program to be about $2.5 million.
