British Gas owner’s boss admits he ‘can’t justify’ £4.5m salary

The boss of British Gas owner Centrica admitted that his 2023 salary of £4.5m was “impossible to justify.”

Chris O’Shea pointed out that he does not set his pay and described himself as incredibly fortunate but said, in light of customers struggling to pay bills, “you can’t justify a salary of that size”.

The “huge amount of money” was the first bonus he had taken in his time at Centrica, the chief executive told BBC Breakfast on Friday (19 January).

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