The chief executive of Centrica, the company that owns British Gas, has had his pay package boosted by £1m to £4.8m at a time when the company has raised customers’ bills by 35%.

Sam Laidlaw will be awarded a bonus of up to £1.6m this year on top of his £915,000 salary. He will also be given up to £1.8m in shares, a £366,000 lump sum in lieu of pension payments and £64,000 in additional perks such as medical insurance, life cover, a top-of-the-range company car and a driver.

The lucrative deal means that Laidlaw, whose company recorded £1 billion in profits in the first half of 2008, could earn up to £4.8m this year, an annual increase of almost £1m.

His pay rise is likely to anger gas customers faced with rocketing bills for heating their homes. Last week Downing Street insisted it had not ruled out a windfall tax on energy companies.

However, it is understood that the Treasury remains “fundamentally opposed” to the idea.

Lindsay Hoyle, an MP and a campaigner for a windfall tax, said: “These wages are unacceptable. We have a mind-blowing pay rise at the same time as people are struggling to pay their energy bills. The government must impose a windfall tax until energy companies drop their prices.”

Shareholder documents reveal that Laidlaw’s salary of £915,000 for 2008-9 is £42,000 higher than in the previous year.

Last year Laidlaw’s maximum bonus for hitting his business and personal targets was set at £1.1m, or 125% of his annual salary. In the event he was awarded a bonus of £941,000. This year, however, his potential bonus has been raised to 180% of his salary, or £1.65m.

The company has also been generous in its share rewards, which are based on financial performance. In 2007 the maximum share reward was raised from 150% of annual salary to 200%, meaning that this year Laidlaw could earn £1.8m. He will also get a £16,000 rise in his pension payment to £366,000.

His fellow directors are also likely to enjoy an increase in their pay package. Philip Bentley, managing director of British Gas, could get a pay rise from £2.4m to a maximum £2.7m and Nick Luff, the group finance director, could get a rise from £2.3m to £2.7m.

Mark Hanafin, the newly appointed managing director of Centrica Energy and Europe, could pocket almost £4m by the end of the year in pay and incentives for joining the company from Shell.

In July, a day after British Gas raised bills for customers by 35%, Centrica announced £1 billion profits for the first six months of the year.

Laidlaw told staff in an e-mail that he was “not going to apologise for making a healthy profit”.

Adam Scorer, director of campaigns at Energywatch, said: “Consumers will be incandescent to hear about this pay rise. It is not fair when you consider the plight of people struggling to pay their bills.”

A spokesman for Centrica said that directors were unlikely to achieve their “demanding” annual targets for their bonuses and share payouts.

He added that Laidlaw’s pay was in line with that of the chief executives of other top companies.

Additional reporting: Solvej Krause

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