Mr Jackson currently holds three unpaid advisory roles in Government. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by him or Octopus, and a government spokesman said he had not been involved in any discussions about heat pumps.
‘Wild and categorically unfounded’
On Friday, Octopus said the “wild and categorically unfounded insinuations” were “the latest in a string of unprovoked attacks by Mr Vince”.
An Octopus Energy spokesman said: “We are bemused by these wild and categorically unfounded insinuations, the latest in a string of unprovoked attacks by Mr Vince.
“Greg was asked by both this and the previous government to help with his experience in technology, entrepreneurship and growth, which he has done voluntarily.
“Mr Vince would do well to use his undoubted ability and influence to sort his own businesses and to make energy cheaper and more secure for the people of Britain, rather than obsessing over petty rivalry and jealousy.”
Last year, Mr Vince criticised his rival for his “evangelical” support for controversial plans to reform the electricity market and published his own report saying the policy would be a grave error.
“Part of me thinks that he’s looking for a cause to campaign for and make a name for himself,” Mr Vince said at the time.
But Mr Jackson recently insisted that claims about his influence were wide of the mark, pointing out that Octopus had “spent the year being absolutely brutalised” by various government decisions.
Last year, his company unsuccessfully campaigned for regional electricity pricing. In March, it was reported that its attempt to buy low-cost wind turbines from Chinese manufacturer Ming Yang was blocked owing to security concerns.
Octopus said Mr Jackson had declared his conflicts to the Government, recused himself from discussions about energy and “carries out his public service roles with the highest ethical standards”.
Mr Jackson co-founded Octopus in 2015 and has grown the company into Britain’s biggest energy supplier, serving eight million households and selling heat pumps, solar panels, batteries and electric cars.
He is a member of the Government’s industrial strategy advisory council, a non-executive director at the Cabinet Office and co-chairs the CustomerFirst unit in the technology department.
Mr Vince’s Ecotricity, founded in 1995, has around 200,000 customers.
The tycoon has donated more than £5m to the Labour Party but has also backed protest groups including Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion.
He has recently emerged as a vocal opponent of heat pumps and has backed biogas as an eco-friendly alternative.
