BRITISH GAS CHIEF SLAMMED FOR £4.1M PAY DEAL

THE leader of British Gas-owned Centrica picked up a £1m pay rise last year, in a move condemned as ‘ridiculous’.

Boss Iain Conn, 54, was paid £4.1m last year compared to £3m a year earlier – as Centrica refused to hike dividends. It comes days after Prime Minister Theresa May said the energy market was ‘not working as it should’ for the poorest.

Emma Hughes, of the energy campaign group Switched On, said: ‘It’s a ridiculous pay rise given that one in ten households are in fuel poverty. ’

Mark Todd, of comparison site energyhelpline, said: ‘You could argue that, rather than giving Iain Conn a big pay rise, maybe they should give their customers a price cut.’

Conn was paid a £1.4m recruitment award agreed in 2015 and his basic salary of £925,000 was unchanged. The company said he had shown ‘firm, imaginative and decisive leadership’.

Centrica’s profits rose 4pc to £1.5bn last year, but it decided not to resume a progressive dividend policy. Shareholders’ full-year dividend is 12p.