Cost of living: Energy chief says any windfall tax should fall upon 'those with the broadest shoulders'

The boss of energy company E.ON has said any windfall tax in the UK should fall upon “those with the broadest shoulders” as consumers face a doubling in prices.

Michael Lewis, E.ON’s chief executive, also said energy regulator Ofgem needed to look again at why prepayment meter customers are having to pay more for their energy than direct debit customers.

“We’ve lobbied for a social tariff. We would like to see the poorest customers getting a better deal, but in the end this is regulated by Ofgem,” Mr Lewis told BBC One’s Sunday Morning.

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He said the company had surveyed 500 customers and found 71% of people were concerned about their energy bills, with 66% reducing their heating and about a third spending less on food as a result.

He warned predictions that October’s energy price rap rise could reach between £2,600 and £2,800 “sound in the right ballpark” but it said would depend on future price developments.

“For us, the most important thing is that the government intervenes, it’s up to the government to decide how they fund that [intervention],” he stated.

“All I would say is that it’s important that, when they are taxing to address this challenge, that they tax those with the broadest shoulders.”

He warned that a growing number of customers were falling into fuel poverty and that this would worsen later in the year.

“We are seeing a significant number of people in fuel poverty,” he said.

“That is to say more than 10% of their disposable income spent on energy, and that’s risen to around 20%, and in October our model suggests that it could rise to 40% if the government doesn’t intervene in some way.”