Britain's largest energy supplier Centrica has named a new man at the top.

Chris O'Shea was unveiled as group chief executive on a permanent basis by the British Gas owner after holding the post on an interim basis for just under a month.

His predecessor Iain Conn and chairman Charles Berry both resigned last month.

Mr Berry – who stepped down due to health reasons – was quickly replaced by long-time board member Scott Wheway.

Mr Conn – who regularly found himself in the firing line of politicians, customers and his own shareholders during his five-year tenure – had previously signalled his intention to stand down this year.

Mr O'Shea takes up the hot seat having previously served as group chief financial officer.

His appointment comes as Centrica – which has a number of operations in south Cumbria – looks to cut costs by around £400 million as it braces itself for a huge hit from plunging business energy demand due to the coronavirus lockdown.

And while energy use from households has increased as millions stay at home, Centrica has warned over the possibility of large numbers of customers falling behind with payments due to the impact coronavirus is having on incomes.

The Covid-19 crisis comes as British Gas has seen its share of the energy marked drop from 24 per cent to 19 per cent since the beginning of 2015 according to regulator Ofgem.

Mr O’Shea said: “It is a huge honour to be appointed to lead Centrica. The company has a long history of serving customers, strong market positions and over recent years has built the capabilities to help our customers transition to a low carbon future.”

Expressing pride at how the Centrica teams has looked after customers and colleagues during the Covid-19 crisis, he added: “Beyond this present emergency our focus will be on creating value for all of our stakeholders through delivering growth in our customer facing businesses, the structural simplification of the Group, and building on the undoubted strengths and capabilities we have in our people and our businesses today.”

Centrica revealed that Mr O’Shea has taken a voluntary £100,000 pay cut from his £775,000 base salary until the company “resumes normal operations”, and that the search for a new chief financial offer was underway.

Welcoming the appointment, Mr Wheway, said: “The Board is confident that he is the right leader to navigate Centrica through and beyond the present Covid-19 crisis focusing on the welfare of our colleagues and customers, the financial resilience of the company and the agility to move quickly when we emerge from these unprecedented circumstances.”

In Cumbria, Centrica operates gas terminals situated between Roose and Rampside near Barrow and has operations in Morecambe Bay.

It also operates a 49-megawatt battery storage facility, built on the site of the former gas-fired Roosecote power station in Rampside Road, which is able to come online in less than a second to meet fluctuations in demand and is able to hold enough power to provide energy for around 50,000 homes.