By Kate Holton and Karolin Schaps
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Centrica (L:CNA) said the head of its British Gas division was leaving the company, the second big-name departure to be announced in five months as it battles public anger over soaring energy bills.
Chris Weston, who will become the new boss of power provider Aggreko (L:AGGK) next year, joins Centrica's Finance Director Nick Luff in announcing his intention to leave. Media have speculated that Chief Executive Sam Laidlaw may also soon quit.
The leadership crisis comes as Britain's largest energy supplier faces huge political pressure over steep rises in bills that have squeezed household incomes.
Opposition leader Ed Miliband has promised a temporary freeze on energy bills if his party is elected next year. British Gas and its peers also face a competition probe by regulators that could lead to its separation from Centrica.
Centrica's profits have been hit hard by weak domestic energy demand and loss-making power stations. It has blamed the continuously raising energy tariffs on rising commodity prices and government green energy levies.
"It's a challenging time for them. There will be concerns in the market about leadership at Centrica," said John Musk, managing director of utilities equity research at RBC Capital Markets.
Centrica said Weston was subject to a 12-month notice period and a further announcement would be made in due course about the timing of his departure.
Aggreko said it had chosen Weston due to his wide experience at Centrica, where he is operationally responsible for both British Gas and Direct Energy in the United States, with revenues of 22 billion pounds, profits of 1.3 billion pounds and over 35,000 employees.
Sky News reported late on Wednesday that Laidlaw, who has run the firm for almost eight years, was set to be replaced by Iain Conn, a senior BP (L:BP) executive.
"Centrica need to admit Sam Laidlaw is leaving and announce a new CEO as soon as possible to avoid leaving a bigger void," said Musk.
Centrica has yet to find a successor for Luff who is to leave by the end of this year to join information group Reed Elsevier (AS:ELSN) as chief financial officer.
Aggreko, the world's biggest temporary power provider, has been without a chief executive since Rupert Soames departed to lead support services company Serco (L:SRP) earlier this year.
Angus Cockburn, formerly Aggreko's finance director, will continue to run the business as interim chief executive, before leaving the company later in the year.
Analysts at Liberum said the departure of Cockburn was a significant loss for the business.
Shares in Centrica were trading up 0.6 percent at 332.7 pence, while Aggreko shares were down 3 percent at 1,699 pence at 0755 GMT.
(Additional reporting by Neil Maidment; Editing by Sarah Young)