Martin Lewis apologises to Ofgem staff after accusing them of ‘selling consumers down the river’ during briefing

Martin Lewis has issued an apology to Ofgem staff for his behaviour during an background briefing after he accused them of “selling consumers down the river”.

The MoneySavingExpert founder apologised on his own Twitter account after the meeting ‘blew up’ when Ofgem gave details of their proposed changes, which Mr Lewis claimed ignored calls to help members of the public and would kill competition in the energy market.

The 50-year-old accused Ofgem of “selling consumers down the river” and said he hit his breaking point when, rather than listening to calls to scrap its proposed market stabilisation charges, Ofgem announced it was effectively making it harder to stop firms undercutting the price cap.

He wrote: “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***ing disgrace that sells consumers down the river’.

“I should've behaved better. My ire's institutional, not individual. It was inappropriate.”

He added: “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 stabilisation charge, it was making it harsher to really 'stop the harmful effects of competition', i.e staggeringly its aim's to effectively STOP firms undercutting the price cap.

Martin Lewis has issued an apology to Ofgem. Picture; PA/BBC Handout

“Its logic was this'd 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 to lock in advantage to higher charging incumbent former monopoly firms.

“Combine that with meeting industry's demand for a new more frequent 'every 3mth' price cap change - carefully calibrated for the first 3mths 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.”

Rounding off the apology, Mr Lewis posted: “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).”

The savings expert branded the market stabilisation announcement "a disaster that means if wholesale prices fall and a new firm gets a switcher, it must pay 85 per cent of difference to old firm, killing hopes of firms launching cheaper deals”.