Martin Lewis clashes with energy boss who said refusing to pay bills is ‘not the British way’

Martin Lewis became embroiled in a tense debate over the soaring cost of energy bills with the boss of OVO Energy this morning.

Stephen Fitzpatrick, chief executive of the energy company, described the coming months as ‘a winter like no other’ during an appearance on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

He added that there are ‘lots of things the Government can do in the next twelve weeks’ to ease the cost of living crisis and ‘lighten the load’ on British households.

And with many people pledging to cancel their direct debit payments this October, Fitzpatrick also claimed that refusing to pay bills was ‘not the British way’.

He said: “In terms of the campaign for Don’t Pay UK, I think we all understand there are going to be millions of people in the UK this winter that are really going to struggle and aren’t going to be able to pay.

“But I think when I see campaigns calling for people, that even those that can afford, not to, I don’t think that’s really the British way.”

However, the Money Saving Expert Founder, who stood in as one of the show’s presenters, said such a ‘huge mass movement’ would cause problems for energy companies.

Lewis said: “What’s interesting is people keep asking me what happens if people don’t pay? And my view is if it were to be a huge mass movement, one of the options you’d have if people choose not to pay as opposed to are struggling and can’t pay is you’d move people to prepayment meters. 

“But you couldn’t do a million prepayment meters in the winter as an energy industry. So we are in unprecedented times if that were to happen, aren’t we?”

He also questioned Fitzpatrick over his own company’s record profits while the public struggle to make ends meet.

Lewis asked: “I have to put this to you as well… a lot of people say: why are you sitting there, talking like this, when you’re a fat cat making the profits, ripping people off. How do you answer that charge?”

At this, Fitzpatrick responded: “There are a lot of companies making extraordinary large profits. Not necessarily by doing anything wrong but they are making a lot of money.

“I set up a retail energy business thirteen years ago, only in retail, we only work on behalf of customers. We have no invested interests, except for what is good for customers.”

This comes as the Don’t Pay UK gains momentum, with over 170,000 Brits pledging to cancel their direct debits in October in a bid to get energy companies to bring down their monthly costs.

Though Fitzpatrick isn’t the only CEO to speak out against the movement, with the boss of the UK’s energy regulator Ofgem previously issuing a warning to those thinking of taking part, saying it could hike costs even higher.

He said last month: “I would not encourage anyone to withhold their paying their bill because that just damages things further and it will impact them personally.”