Bonus for the boss of British Gas owner a stark contrast to reality faced by ordinary people - The Yorkshire Post says

The most vulnerable will have been reduced to looking up so-called warm banks in their local communities so as to just ward off the cold during the long winter months.

While the summer months may provide some respite, it won’t be long before the nights begin to draw in again and people once again are riven with anxiety over how they will cope.

However, it is clear that this isn’t a problem for bosses or shareholders of energy companies. As the pay award and bonus package to Chris O’Shea, CEO of Centrica , the parent company of British Gas shows.

The chief executive will take home a bonus package worth almost £3.7m after more than 93 per cent of shareholders voted in favour of the reward.

In addition to a salary of £790,000, he received a bonus of £1.422m and a long-term share bonus of £2.262m. His basic salary has also been increased to £815,000 a year from the start of April.

This is despite Centrica coming under fire over the prepayment scandal, which showed that a third party used by the firm was forcibly installing the meters in the homes of vulnerable customers.

The Yorkshire Post is all for commercial success being rewarded, especially that which is a by-product of an entrepreneurial spark that enriches communities. But the fact the Centrica CEO is pocketing such a handsome pay package at a time when households are struggling, suggests there’s something fundamentally wrong with the energy market.