British Energy replaces its chief executive

British Energy this week removed its chief executive, just weeks after the finalisation of a £5bn rescue package for the troubled nuclear power producer.

Mike Alexander, hired two years ago by Centrica to lead British Energy through its enormous financial restructuring, will receive a pay-off of around £425,000 but his swift departure means he will lose out on a bonus of some £6m if British Energy hits targets over the next few years.

Alexander was told of his departure, orchestrated by chairman Adrian Montague, at an emergency weekend board meeting to discuss his work and future. He has no job waiting for him and is the third chief executive to be forced out of the company in the last four years.

The substitution with Bill Coley, a non-executive director of the company and a former head of US power company Duke Energy, means that the top two executives at British Energy will be Americans with a background in the nuclear industry. Coley has signed a one-year contract but pay and details of his relocation to the UK have yet to be disclosed.

Coley will take control of a company that announced in February a loss of £349m in the first nine months of the year after reactor failures hit nuclear