WATCH: Martin Lewis left exasperated after ex-minister suggests putting foil on radiator to save cash
Martin Lewis was left exasperated, after former minister Edwina Currie proposed putting foil behind the radiator to save cash this winter.
The founder of MoneySavingExpert responded to the former Tory minister’s money-saving tips during the cost of living crisis, after she said it “doesn’t help” for him to label the issue a “catastrophe”.
Hosting ITV’s Good Morning Britain (GMB) on Monday, Lewis put his head in his hands as Currie, speaking by video link, held up some foil which she said “really does work” in keeping the room warm.
He responded to the suggestion that “there’s nothing wrong” with her money-saving tips, but “they are not enough”.
“Ultimately, let’s be plain. We have an 80 per cent rise in the price cap in October. We have another predicted 52 per cent rise in January,” he said.
“That will bring a typical bill in the UK to £5,400 a year. Many pensioners tend to have bigger bills because they need more heating on. £5,400 is substantially over half the full state pension – well bigger than that over the old state pension – that is less.”
Earlier in the ITV programme, Lewis confronted the boss of OVO energy, Stephen Fitzpatrick, branding him “a fat cat making the profits, ripping people off”.
The energy boss 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.
He also told Martin Lewis his company does not even set the prices.
The GMB host continued: “Do you think this is right? Do you think they’re looking at a price freeze?”
Fitzpatrick responded: “I think they’re looking at a lot of options”.
Lewis said plans should have been implemented before a new prime minister was announced, asking Fitzpatrick if he’d met the candidates. He then snapped, “you’re being political now. They could have done this sooner, couldn’t they?”
Fitzpatrick responded that “it isn’t too late” to act, and “there are lots of things the government can do in the next 12 weeks that will make this so much easier…there will definitely be steps that will lighten the load.”