British Gas boss voices concerns over Scotland's energy jobs

He says he found it quite hard to get a job after university and "got loads of rejection letters".

"I know what it's like to be a bit worried about getting a job," he says.

"I also know what it's like to get a job that you like, and you find out that you're good at, it can change your life - it certainly did for me."

However, the chief executive is no stranger to cutting roles, having axed the best part of 5,000 soon after he took charge during the height of the Covid pandemic in April 2020.

"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."

Since then, Centrica has taken on 1,700 apprentices and has committed to taking on one more every day for this decade at least.

The 52-year-old faced a huge public backlash after it emerged that debt agents working for British Gas were breaking into people's homes to fit prepayment meters.

"We are not doing that at the moment," he says when asked if this has resumed.

But he argues the regulator Ofgem needs to tell firms how to act when people don't pay and how to find out who cannot pay and who refuses to.

"My heart goes out to those people who can't pay, but those people who choose not to pay are freeloaders and we have to find a way to differentiate and go after the people who choose not to pay, and to remove the distress from people who are unable to pay," he adds.

He seems supportive of potential plans for the chancellor to announce relief for billpayers in the Budget, such as cutting the current 5% rate of VAT charged on energy.

"Anything that reduces the cost of energy, I would welcome.

"But the reality is we have got to pay for it in some way," he warns.