The CEO of Centrica, which owns British Gas, received over £4.7 million in total compensation last year despite a decline in profits. Chris O’Shea’s salary of more than £1 million was supplemented by nearly £3.6 million in bonuses. This comes as British Gas customers face high energy bills.
Centrica’s underlying profits dropped to £814 million in 2025 from £1.55 billion in 2024, partly due to warm weather impacting British Gas operations, resulting in an £80 million loss. Additionally, more customers switched to cheaper fixed tariff deals, reducing profits in the household supply business to £163 million from £269 million in 2024.
Despite a shareholder revolt at the previous year’s annual general meeting, where almost 40% opposed the board’s pay plans, Mr. O’Shea’s total pay reduced to £4.73 million in 2025 from £5.08 million in 2024. His pay ratio with the average employee at Centrica was 71:1.
Carol Arrowsmith, the chair of Centrica’s pay committee, stated that the compensation adjustments for O’Shea in 2025 were in line with market rates given Centrica’s size and complexity. O’Shea’s pay is set to increase by 3% to £1.13 million annually from April 1, with the broader workforce also receiving 3% to 4% average pay raises.
British Gas observed a 1% rise in UK and Ireland household customers to 7.96 million, with 7.5 million in the UK. However, this increase was partly due to acquiring the customer base of failed suppliers Rebel Energy and Tomato Energy. Despite this, British Gas lost its position as the largest household energy supplier to Octopus Energy.
Industry experts predict a 7% decrease in Ofgem’s energy price cap, reducing the typical dual fuel household bill by £117 to £1,641 a year from April 1. This follows Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ announcement to cut £150 from average household bills by scrapping the Energy Company Obligation scheme.
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