Chris O’Shea has warned north sea workers face huge job losses unless transition gets faster
Centrica bos Chris O’Shea has warned the UK is losing too many oil and gas jobs and risks repeating the social devastation of the coal closures- unless the transition to clean energy is handled far better.
He was speaking in a BBC radio interview where he urged ministers to face up to “the demise” of North Sea drilling and the slow pace of new green roles.
O’Shea says the industry is already shedding workers at speed. Harbour Energy has cut jobs this year and the Port of Aberdeen is axing roles after what it called a “staggering” fall in activity.
“The energy transition is the right thing for us to do. It’s essential,” he says. But he warns the shift is not replacing jobs fast enough.
He backs continued domestic gas production to protect bills and cut emissions. “Whether you look at this from a cost point of view or whether you look at this from a carbon point of view or environmental point of view, the gas that you produce domestically will often be cheaper than the gas you import, and it will definitely be cleaner than the gas you import,” he says.
His concern is rooted in his own experience growing up in Fife. “I saw the devastation when the coal mines were closed during the miners’ strike and people that had incredibly well-paid jobs – they went to no work at all,” he says.
“You’ve got second, third-generation people that are not in work now. And I desperately want to avoid that through this transition.”
O’Shea says he knows how tough the jobs market can be. “I know what it’s like to be a bit worried about getting a job,” he says.
Centrica itself has been through churn.
He cut nearly 5,000 roles during the pandemic. “I wasn’t sure the company was actually going to survive,” he says. “The only way I could justify that to myself was I was trying to protect 20,000 jobs, I couldn’t protect them all.”
The company has since hired 1,700 apprentices and plans to take on one more every day for the rest of the decade.
O’Shea remains scathing about past regulation that failed to stop suppliers collapsing when wholesale prices spiked. “It’s all down to poor regulation,” he says. “You cannot have a system whereby the profits are privatised and the losses are socialised.”
He defends dividends and his own pay. “Investors invest and they want a return,” he says. He adds retail profits remain capped at 2.4%.
He insists British Gas is no longer force-fitting prepayment meters. “We are not doing that at the moment,” he says. But he wants clear rules for dealing with people who can’t pay and those who won’t. “People who choose not to pay are freeloaders,” he says.
O’Shea supports cutting VAT on bills. “Anything that reduces the cost of energy, I would welcome,” he says. But he warns the Treasury must spell out how it is funded.
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