The owner of British Gas is facing a shareholder revolt this week over the £8.2 million salary of its chief executive.

Centrica boss Chris O’Shea said in January there was “no point” in trying to justify his salary and bonus while homeowners were struggling with rising electricity bills.

There will be a showdown between company management and investors at the annual general meeting on Wednesday.

Pensions and Investment Research Consultants (PIRC), a key proxy advisor, has urged shareholders to vote against O’Shea’s pay rise in 2023.

Last year, the energy manager received a basic salary of £810,000, plus an annual bonus of £1.4 million, a long-term bonus of £5.9 million, and a pension and benefits.

The award came amid growing backlash from the City over the salaries of FTSE chief executives, which proxy advisors such as Glass Lewis and ISS described as “excessive”.

The compensation packages of the chief executives of AstraZeneca, Wizz Air, the London Stock Exchange Group and Clarkson have all drawn criticism in recent months, but some in the City argue that high salaries are necessary to prevent top talent from moving abroad.

O’Shea has headed the owner British Gas since 2020. In 2019, he waived a bonus payment as chief financial officer. He also refused payouts in 2020 and 2021 due to the “hardships” of his customers.

The company’s annual report said the pay increase was due to “sustained improvements in underlying performance and significant share price growth” at Centrica.

At British Gas, profits rose more than tenfold in 2023, from £75 million to £751 million, and shares rose more than 17 percent in the last 12 months.

However, the energy company was embroiled in a scandal after it emerged that British Gas debt collectors had forcibly entered the homes of vulnerable and elderly people to install meters.

The revelations led to an industry-wide ban on the installation of prepaid meters and resulted in O’Shea’s bonus being cut by ten percent.