Martin Lewis shaken and near to tears after being unable to help single mum with energy bills

Martin Lewis returned to TV screens on Thursday night to share more money and consumer tips with the nation, focusing on the current energy crisis and seemingly unstoppable runaway gas and electricity bills millions of households across the country will face from April.

During the show, the financial guru spoke with Sara, whose husband sadly passed away last January due to Covid-19 and she is also battling her own long-term health issues.

The single mum from Essex wanted to know if she should try to find a better energy deal as she was recently moved by Ofgem on to British Gas after her supplier, People’s Energy, went into administration.

Looking visibly upset, Martin responded by explaining how the "vast majority" of people should still “do nothing” and stick to their current fixed energy deal, especially if it's below the price cap at the moment.

The founder of MoneySavingExpert.com went on to explain how moving to a new deal to anticipate the price cap rise would only be worth it if the new deal was no more than 40% more than the current price cap.

However, after the show finished, he took to social media to share that Sara’s situation had left him "shaking" and "near tears".

Posting on his official Twitter account to his 1.2million followers, he wrote: “I feel near tears after doing my show. I started doing what I do out of a passion for financial justice & providing solutions.

“To be unable to help a single mum who lost her partner in covid afford her energy bills leaves me feeling impotent.

“I'm shaking”

However, the tweet prompted replies from heartless trolls who said he should pay her energy bills because he is “rich”.

Martin responded by saying: “A few 'ur rich, pay her bloody energy bill' replies. This isn't about 1 person, it's a totem for millions who'll be in fuel poverty.”

He added: “Instead I try to give answers, lobby for change, & put my money where my mouth is this way…”

He also shared a link to a page on the MoneySavingExpert.com website which outlines his pledge to donate £10million to charity - which has in fact become nearer to £20million.

In the blog from January 2021, Martin explained: “As that was a public pledge and I believe I've a duty of transparency, every couple of years I bash out a blog report (the last was in January 2019) to explain where I'm up to, and who gets the money. And 2020 was a year like no other.

“Normally my charity ventures are planned and have time to gestate. This year my Coronavirus Poverty Fund had to be set up at speed, even though more money went to it than anything from my charity fund before. More on that below, but this is primarily a stats blog, so…”

Martin highlighted where the money has gone.

This includes:

• £11m is the total he has put into charity funds, including Gift Aid (or equivalent)
• £2m of this was direct funding to Citizens Advice
• £9m was put into a Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) fund - this works like a charity bank account, he controls the money, but can only use it to make charitable-type donations
• £7.9m of that £9m has now gone to specific charities - so that's total donations of £9.9m so far when Citizens Advice is included

Keep up to date with the latest Record Money news

There are a number of ways you can stay up to date with the latest money-saving and benefits news from the Daily Record.

You can join the conversation on our Money Saving Scotland Facebook group for money-saving tips, benefits news, consumer help and advice plus the latest shopping deals.

Sign up to our Record Money newsletter to get our best stories sent straight to your inbox every Tuesday and Friday. You can sign up either by entering your email address in the sign up box further up this page or by clicking here.

You can also follow our Twitter account @Recordmoney_ for regular updates here.

Martin added: “The good news - there's still £10.4m left in the CAF fund. If you think this doesn't add up, you're right.

“There's still about the same amount left as I started with, even after giving nearly £10m away.

“This is primarily because the investments I have a large chunk of the charity money in did well. Though I've now moved it to safer shores.”

You can read the full details of where Martin Lewis has donated the money too on the MoneySavingExpert.com website here.

Get the latest money-saving and benefits news sent straight to your inbox. Sign up to our weekly Money newsletter here.