British Gas boss doubles pay to £8.2m

THE boss of British Gas has seen his pay nearly double to £8.2m two months after he said his salary was “impossible to justify”.

Chris O’shea, who is chief executive of British Gas owner Centrica, was paid £4.5m in 2022.

When asked about his pay packet during a BBC interview in January, Mr O’shea admitted that “you can’t justify a salary of that size” given the difficulties some customers face when paying their energy bills. However, this has not stopped him from accepting bonus payments of £7.3m in 2023, as his total pay ballooned to £8.2m.

The company’s annual report said the surge in pay stemmed from Centrica’s “continued improvements in underlying performance and substantial share price growth”.

In 2023, British Gas profits surged tenfold to £751m compared with £75m a year earlier, while shares in the business have risen by more than 22pc in the last 12 months.

The bonuses have been paid despite the prepayment meter scandal in February 2023 that exposed how British Gas debt collectors broke into the homes of vulnerable people to force-fit meters. The revelations led to a temporary sector-wide ban on prepayment meter fittings, with British Gas still unable to resume under stricter rules.

Carol Arrowsmith, chairman of Centrica’s

remuneration committee, said she had docked 10pc of Mr O’shea’s bonus because of the controversy.

She said: “The committee considered the impact of a national newspaper undercover investigation in February 2023 into the fitting of prepayment meters under court warrant by a third-party contractor working for British Gas.

“The group chief executive was deeply concerned when he observed a lack of empathy and respect in some of these cases; he apologised unreservedly and immediately commissioned an investigation into the issue, overseen by external compliance consultants. We ceased all warrant activity with the third-party contractor immediately.”