Martin Lewis issues apology after ‘losing his rag’ in meeting with energy regulator

Money saving expert Martin Lewis has apologised for swearing and “losing his rag” in a background briefing with the energy regulator, Ofgem. Lewis referred to the agency’s upcoming plans as a “f*****g disgrace that sells consumers down the river”.

Ofgem is charged with protecting energy consumers by ensuring the energy market is run fairly. It has a particular mission to protect vulnerable customers and consider environmental concerns.

The specific details of what happens during background briefings are not usually made public. However, Martin Lewis felt compelled to issue the apology, describing his ire as “institutional not individual”, and calling his comments “inappropriate”. The money saving expert made his remarks in response to news that Ofgem will likely be making several changes to the energy market soon, including conducting a price cap review every three months.

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Martin Lewis also took aim at potential changes to the Market Stabilization Charge, which he described in a later tweet as “a disaster that means if wholesale prices fall and a new firm gets a switcher, it must pay 85% of difference to old firm. Killing hopes of firms launching cheaper deals”.

Ofgem has announced that it will publish a ‘minded-to’ consultation of the proposed changes. Jonathan Brearley, CEO of Ofgem, said: “Our top priority is to protect consumers by ensuring a fair and resilient energy market that works for everyone. Our retail reforms will ensure that consumers are paying a fair price for their energy while ensuring resilience across the sector.

“Today’s proposed change would mean the price cap is more reflective of current market prices and any price falls would be delivered more quickly to consumers. It would also help energy suppliers better predict how much energy they need to purchase for their customers, reducing the risk of further supplier failures, which ultimately pushes up costs for consumers. The last year has shown that we need to make changes to the price cap so that suppliers are better able to manage risks in these unprecedented market conditions.”

The consultation will begin on Tuesday, 14 June 2022, to implement the reforms in October of this year.

In a subsequent interview with presenter James O’Brien on LBC radio, Martin Lewis called on politicians of all parties to stop the regulator’s plans. He said: “In these times of high stress – when you’re talking to people at energy companies and their customer service staff, we must always be polite.”

He went on to announce he had written a formal apology to Ofgem and would be making a donation to National Energy Action, a fuel poverty charity, as reparation.

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In a long Twitter thread, the Money Saving Expert stated: “I’d like to formally apologise to the @ofgem staff for losing my rag in a background briefing just now and saying its changes are a “f*****g disgrace that sells consumers down the river”. I should’ve behaved better. My ire’s institutional not individual, it was inappropriate.

“I lost it when getting a briefing about today’s proposals, where it feels like at every turn, in these desperate times where lives are at risk, it has ignored all asks for consumers and instead kowtowed to the industry (I hope history proves me wrong).

“My breaking point was when hearing how instead of listening to calls to scrap its proposed market stabilization charge, it was making it harsher to really ‘stop the harmful effects of competition’ staggeringly its aim’s to effectively STOP firms undercutting the price cap.”

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“Its logic was this would prevent other firms needing to ‘exit the market’. For years I’ve been pushing it for better controls in who they allow to set up energy firms. Yet now its way to stop it is to lock in advantage to higher charging incumbent former monopoly firms.

“Combine that with meeting industry’s demand for a new more frequent ‘every three-month’ price cap change – carefully calibrated for the first three months to include SIX months of wholesale prices (so the price factors in the highest wholesale rates in history) so firms don’t miss out.

“I finished the call by asking it to at least consider cutting standard charges, which huge rates stop people really saving by cutting energy use. I have had good meetings with Ofgem for years, so I’m sorry this blew up (they were calm I wasn’t).

“Please accept that was (and this is) an emotional rant, not a considered piece. I pray when I do further analysis I have to apologise again as I’ve got it very wrong (if not I worry about dire consequences for consumers – we must do more to make things better for them).”

Several prominent activists voiced support for Lewis, including anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe who replied to the thread saying: “You speak for all of us, Martin. Their changes ARE a f*****g disgrace that sell consumers down the river. Anger is a powerful tool, and you more than most have every right to wield it. You’ve done enough, politely enough, for long enough, to have just about had enough.”

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