Boss of British Gas owner gets £700,000 pay rise a week after hiking bills by 10 per cent

The head of British Gas owner Centrica boosted his pay cheque by £740,000 last year, it has been revealed just a week after the firm upped prices for millions of customers.

Iain Conn, who has led London-listed Centrica since 2015, was paid £2.42m in 2018, up from £1.68m the year before.

Read more: Ofgem price cap: What to do if your energy bills shoot up

The chief executive was given a £388,000 cash bonus last year after not getting any bonus in a turbulent 2017. This came on top of a deferred £388,000 bonus.

Centrica said in February that it lost around six per cent of its customers in 2018 and was set to take a £300m hit in part from Ofgem’s energy price cap. Shares hit a 20-year low after the news.

Last week prices went up for 15m customers across the UK on energy suppliers’ standard tariffs. Householders are expected to cough up an extra £1.67bn after the price cap rose on 1 April, according to data from Uswitch.

Some will face increases of up to £147 per year, with around four million British Gas customers being hit by a 10 per cent hike.

Read more: Hedge funds take out £86m bets against British Gas owner Centrica

Centrica said that Conn’s performance had been “strong” in the “context of the competitive and regulatory environment,” despite its consumer division falling short of expectations.

“Iain has demonstrated exceptional leadership during the year; however, delivery has been behind the expectations of the market despite relatively attractive in-year total shareholder return performance,” said head of the remuneration committee Scott Wheway.