The boss of British Gas-owner Centrica will receive bonuses worth £3.7m after the firm posted record profits in 2022.

Chris O'Shea, who has refused bonuses for the past three years, will also get a £790,000 salary.

It comes as millions of households struggle to pay their energy bills and Centrica faces scrutiny for force-fitting prepayment meters in homes.

The firm said Mr O'Shea had delivered "shareholder value" and navigated "regulatory and political issues".

The company's profits for 2022 hit £3.3bn after oil and gas prices jumped following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The results, published in February, sparked calls for energy firms to pay more tax as people are hit by surging bills.

At the time Mr O'Shea said it was "too early to have a conversation" about any potential bonus.

In its annual report published on Wednesday, Centrica said it needed to pay bonuses to "retain leaders".

Board member Carol Arrowsmith added that the company could not expect to attract leaders in the future "if we do not meet our commitment to recognise and reward the performance and talent of our people".

"Like most public companies we hire our senior executives on employment contracts that have a significant proportion of pay which is performance-related," Ms Arrowsmith added.

Before now, Mr O'Shea had previously turned down a £1.1m bonus in 2021 due to "hardships" faced by customers. He also refused bonuses in 2020 and 2019 because of the pandemic.

However, Centrica said it was "not sustainable" for Mr O'Shea to keep doing this.

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