Ex-Centrica boss gives ‘substantial’ amount of bonus to charity

Former Centrica chief executive Sam Laidlaw will donate a “substantial” amount of his £500,000 annual bonus to voluntary causes for a second consecutive year.

The bonus will be announced in Centrica’s annual report tomorrow, Sky News said earlier today.

In addition to the annual bonus and his base salary of about £1 million, Laidlaw will receive a payout of roughly £1 million under Centrica’s long-term incentive plan, bringing his total earnings for 2014 to around £3 million, about a third higher than the previous year.

A source said the increase was because the company’s remuneration committee had not made any awards under its long-term share scheme for 2013.

Still, the £3 million figure represents less than half the theoretical maximum Laidlaw could have earned under the policy set out in last year’s annual report, according to Sky.

Under Centrica’s remuneration policy, Laidlaw will remain eligible for an award to be paid out in 2017 worth 25 per cent of a £1.9 million maximum opportunity allocated to him during the course of last year.

However, that future payout is said to be “highly uncertain”.

Laidlaw resigned from Centrica, which owns British Gas, at the end of December 2014, and was succeeded by BP’s Iain Conn.

At the end of last year, Centrica was forced to revise its 2014 earnings 10 per cent lower to between 19-20 pence per share, as a result of the UK’s low temperature-led demand.

In its initial submission to the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) ongoing energy sector investigation, Centrica urged the CMA to keep in mind the “complex financial risks” faced by energy suppliers in providing on-demand energy to retail customers.

The company announced last month that its operating profits had plunged 35 per cent last year, forcing it to cut back on investment and shut its older power plants amid a long term strategy review.