British Gas owner Centrica warns of higher gas costs

Another round of household energy bill price hikes looms after Centrica warns cost of supplying gas has risen by £50 a year

Centrica warns that the trend for retail energy costs 'remains upwards'. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA

Senior executives at British Gas have been accused of being an "utter disgrace" after being awarded a potentially generous pay deal just as they warned that more price rises were on the way.

The attack from a member of parliament's energy and climate change committee came as a large group of shareholders voted against the remuneration report while other companies faced the latest blowback from the "shareholder spring".

Vladimir Kim, the top shareholder in the mining firm Kazakhmys, said he would step down as chairman within 12 months, a new executive pay package at oil services group Petrofac faced opposition from shareholders and a quarter of investors rejected a remuneration report at shipbroker Clarkson.

But the greatest acrimony came at Centrica, the parent group of British Gas, after it warned that it might have to increase energy bills this winter by at least £50.

John Robertson, a Glasgow MP, who sits on the energy select committee, said: "It's clear that Centrica think this is a good day to bury bad bills. The fact they chose this day to announce these price rises, when [former chief executive of News International] Rebekah Brooks is before [the] Leveson [inquiry)], shows they are an utter disgrace," he said.

"This government has to act to put an end to greedy gas companies taking hard-pressed customers for a ride. Pensioners in my constituency are only just getting over the budget, now they are hit with the prospect of rising energy bills."

Centrica's chief executive, Sam Laidlaw, and the British Gas managing director, Phil Bentley, were accused by one investor of presiding over an "arrogant" company that had been fined £2.5m for not investigating customer complaints properly.

Another shareholder asked Laidlaw whether he would hand back the bonus element of his remuneration package of nearly £4m, a question that finally triggered an impassioned defence of the chief executive by Sir Roger Carr, the Centrica chairman. "We are very fortunate to have Sam Laidlaw for this business," said Carr. "For five years he has done a remarkable job for this company and one I am very proud to be associated with."

The group pay arrangements had very high hurdles in place that had to be overcome for bonus payouts to be made, he argued, but 12% of shareholders still voted against the remuneration report when it came up for approval.

Both the Pension & Investment Research Consultant and the Association of British Insurers had raised concerns about the pay proposals.

Meanwhile in a statement British Gas said wholesale gas prices for the forthcoming winter were about 15% higher than last year and non-commodity costs – such as transportation and environment levies – could add £50 to the cost of supplying the average household this year.