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Centrica chief executive Chris O’Shea repeatedly refused to say if he will take a bonus this year, following a record £3.3 billion profit posted by the company.
O’Shea was asked multiple times whether he would accept this year’s bonus payout during a press briefing on Thursday (16 February). He is eligible to receive up to £1.6 million if all objectives are met.
O’Shea refused to answer the questions and insisted it was “just too early to have a conversation about that”, adding that Centrica’s results have been posted sooner this year than they were in 2022 and that the company will issue an update on the matter in its annual report next month. 
Last year he rejected his 2021 bonus of £1.1 million in recognition of the difficulties being faced by consumers.
Meanwhile the company is proposing to issue a final shareholder dividend of £118 million, after reinstating its dividend last summer for the first time since 2020.
Centrica’s results show a £235 million increase in bad debt, with British Gas making up the majority of this increase (£213 million).
Asked by Utility Week about how to tackle the issue of bad debt now that the forced installation of prepayment meters (PPM) is banned until the end of March, O’Shea said there were questions over how to determine who society wants to help and how they can be helped.
He said that the majority of PPM customers were happy with the payment method and liked the fact it allows them to budget.
He continued: “So prepayment meters have got a place. The question we have got at the moment is, what do we do for people that cannot pay and will not engage with their supplier? Energy is one area but there are other areas as well and I think that is a question that we have got to answer.
“At the moment the bad debts that arise from that simply are added in the price cap methodology to everyone else’s bills. Now I don’t know whether that’s something that society firstly understands and secondly finds acceptable. So we’ve really got to have that conversation.”
Today’s results come following a turbulent couple of weeks for the company, which has faced intense criticism over the way it treats vulnerable PPM customers.
O’Shea stressed the only time British Gas installed a PPM under warrant was when it had been unable to make contact with indebted customers over a period of months, including following home visits.
He added: “What I have to be clear on is that this is not something that can be solved by British Gas, it’s not something that can be solved by Centrica, it’s something that really requires industry, government and regulators to work together [on]. And I think hopefully it will go beyond just the energy industry because it’s all very well fixing this in the energy industry but what does it mean in other places?
“There can’t be a solution in the energy industry which requires us to advance credit to people that we know they can’t pay because that is really damaging to their mental health. You can’t have a solution in one industry which is encouraged which would be illegal in another industry, we have to look at this holistically.”
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