[UK] Centrica boss: ‘No point’ trying to justify my £4.5m salary

The boss of Centrica - British Gas’s parent company - has said there is “no point” trying to justify his £4.5 million pay package, in a climate where many customers struggle to pay their bills, The Standard reports.

Chris O’Shea - the Group Chief Executive of Centrica - told BBC Breakfast, “You can’t justify a salary of that size”.

“It’s a huge amount of money, I am incredibly fortunate. I don’t set my own pay, that’s set by our remuneration committee,” Mr O’Shea said.

“That’s the first bonus I’ve taken in my time at Centrica, for a number of years, I’ve given up bonuses because of hardships that customers were facing.”

The company has reportedly set aside £100 million towards a hardship fund which has helped around 21,000 customers since 2021 by writing off up to £2,000 in debt.

“I thought it was right that we put a lot of our money, a lot of our profits, into supporting customers. But you can’t justify a salary of that size,” the chief exec told BBC presenters on January 19.

“You can’t, because it’s a huge amount of money to anybody looking at this.”

In response to the question of why he earns such high pay, Mr O’Shea pointed the presenters and said, “I suppose for the same reason, I mean, if you look, the average salary in the UK is around £30,000.”

“All of us sitting here on this sofa will make substantially more than £30,000. It’s not for me to set my own pay. It’s not for you to set your own pay.

“But you’ve got to recognise that when you’ve got people who are struggling, and I look at my mum who’s on the basic state pension, it’s just impossible to justify, so there’s no point in trying to do that.”

Source: The Standard

(Quotes via original reporting)

The boss of Centrica - British Gas’s parent company - has said there is “no point” trying to justify his £4.5 million pay package, in a climate where many customers struggle to pay their bills, The Standard reports.

Chris O’Shea - the Group Chief Executive of Centrica - told BBC Breakfast, “You can’t justify a salary of that size”.

“It’s a huge amount of money, I am incredibly fortunate. I don’t set my own pay, that’s set by our remuneration committee,” Mr O’Shea said.

“That’s the first bonus I’ve taken in my time at Centrica, for a number of years, I’ve given up bonuses because of hardships that customers were facing.”

The company has reportedly set aside £100 million towards a hardship fund which has helped around 21,000 customers since 2021 by writing off up to £2,000 in debt.

“I thought it was right that we put a lot of our money, a lot of our profits, into supporting customers. But you can’t justify a salary of that size,” the chief exec told BBC presenters on January 19.

“You can’t, because it’s a huge amount of money to anybody looking at this.”

In response to the question of why he earns such high pay, Mr O’Shea pointed the presenters and said, “I suppose for the same reason, I mean, if you look, the average salary in the UK is around £30,000.”

“All of us sitting here on this sofa will make substantially more than £30,000. It’s not for me to set my own pay. It’s not for you to set your own pay.

“But you’ve got to recognise that when you’ve got people who are struggling, and I look at my mum who’s on the basic state pension, it’s just impossible to justify, so there’s no point in trying to do that.”

Source: The Standard

(Quotes via original reporting)