To ask if you’re planning to refuse to pay energy bills?

[Gruffalocrumbles]

I’ve seen a few posts here and there on social media about collectively refusing to pay energy bills when the price hikes in October.

I was wondering if many people are on board/planning to do this?
(YABU = not refusing to pay, YANBU = refusing to pay?)

Most recent post I have seen is by a page called ‘dontpayuk’ on Instagram www.instagram.com/p/CghIfyeseTv/?igshid=YzAyZWRlMzg=

I am really concerned about how our household is going to manage to keep up with bills this winter.

I think the person refering to the poster who suggested nationalising energy as a "Marxist" was unfair. Something does need to be done by the government re this. People stopping not paying isn't it though. The energy companies can just get a warrant to gain access and exchange the meter for a prepay one. I don't know what the solution is. Wish I did.

The answer is to use less energy.

If we nationalise the energy suppliers, then instead of the experts at Centrica, BP, Shell etc. negotiating for supplies of gas, LNG and oil products with the Americans, Arabs and Russians we will have Johnson, Truss, Sunak, Starmer, Reeves and Rayner and their Sir Humphrey's doing a much better job! It would also cost about £300bn to nationalise just the three companies mentioned, and I can't begin to imagine the problems nationalising the Spanish, German and French owned suppliers.

I always contact them and lower it to a more reasonable amount.

V unwise to just not pay.

I wonder how many of those thinking of refusing to pay gave a TV subscription, drink alcohol, or get takeaway food.

I’d bet good money that it’s the majority.

I'm not in the UK, but if I didn't pay my gas or electricity bills they would (after several warnings) cut my service off. Would that not happen there?

I have prepayment meters unfortunately, but if I didn't - I would certainly be cancelling my direct debit. We have to do something to show them that we will not tolerate these kind of rises.

Many will have no choice anyway - they won't be able to pay.

Perhaps poor people should just roll over die eh?

The only people powerful enough to do anything about fuel companies (anyone see the disgraceful profits posted today?) is the government. If everyone refused to pay, we would all end up sitting in the dark. That's the reality - the companies don't care. Prices don't need to rise, but corporate greed says that they will continue to raise them because they will make more profits.

The reason why not to is because it will cost you more. Your standing charge and charge per KWh will go up. So you’ll pay more for same usage.

And while it will affect these large multinational corporations cash flow, all it will do is make them secure financing. Which is very easy to do for a large multinational corporation. The interest rate % charged on this financing will then be passed on to you in the form of even higher standing charges and charges per KWh usage.

So cancelling DDs is about the most effective way to end up paying even more for energy! Way to go genius.

The profits announced by Shell and Centrica are scandalous in the context of the rise in bills. Any decent government that paid more than lip service to caring about the population would address this.

If nobody at all paid they'd soon stop the gouging that's going on.

A Marxist would be suggesting a lot more that any of that!

Oh dear, someone who doesn't know what a Marxist is.

The last thing a Marxist would do is lobby a capitalist government!

Average provider profit per household is around £20.

Exactly why I'm completely in favour of any organised non-compliance, a program of general strikes, non-payment of utility bills, council tax, consolidate industrial action, and anything else that ultimately disrupts the bottom line for government, large businesses, and their shareholders. It is literally the only thing this government cares about.

Perhaps after the immediate problem of safeguarding profits at the expense of prices and salaries are addressed, we might have a semi-competent government that re-examines the lunacy of handing utilities, which are essentially a life-tax, over to profit-driven private companies. The should never have been privatised in the first place, but as with most things in the 80's, 90's, and early 2000's, anything that the government could flog off for a quick injection of cash was fair game.

I don't have a choice because I'm on a pre payment meter, don't pay and then I don't get any gas or electric.
I got one because I couldn't pay my bills a few years ago, if I'd refused then they'd have got a court order and I would have had to have it done or cut off completely.
So unfortunately I think that's what'll happen to people who refuse to pay their bills, and most will pay up when they realise it'll happen.
Those already on pre payment without the means to cover the increase will just sit in the cold and dark when they run out.
And as we're not fond of poor people in this country, they'll go unnoticed while the rest pay up eventually and that'll be that.

What is the answer?

I’m paying because I don’t want to be cut off or to be in debt.

Nope, stopping paying isn't a good idea. This is what I am doing instead:

1. reducing my usage - changes I've made have already made a massive difference as you can see on the photo.
2. planning for winter - buying things that will help now when they are cheaper.
3. keeping my DD at a higher but affordable level now so I'm going into winter in a good amount of credit.
4. fixed my plan a while back, so I'm paying slightly more than the current price cap but come Octobers rise I should be at a lower rate.

Me either

I’ve got pre payment meters. They were here when we moved in and I couldn’t be arsed to change them and I’ve never been more glad of them. My tarrif isn’t much more than people on direct debit (19p a kWh for elec) and I’m not subject to crazy monthly direct debits. I know exactly how much I’m spending and the moment in a three floor four bedroom house I’m spending about £50 a month in elec and £25 a month on gas. Obviously this will go up a huge amount in the winter with extra usage and further price increases but I’ve seen people with 500 and more a month DDs and I actually feel quite in control on the meter. I’m still worried about heating the house in winter of course but we are insulating where we can, buying onesies now while they are on sale, stocking up on wood for the wood burner and everything else we can do

I'm going to do my best to pay as it's the right thing to do. Also, I don't want to be in debt, risk a prepayment meter which I understand are more expensive or being cut off. Also, it'll cost manpower chasing no payers and that'll add to bills.

People who can't pay probably gave up those things long ago.

My energy company tried to put my DD up in the Spring but I told them I couldn't afford anymore than the price hike I had in the Autumn. So I've stuck to what I was already paying. It helped that I'd not put my heating on over the Winter so I was a little bit in credit. I have been paying a little extra when I can. I plan to not use my heating over the Winter again so will hopefully be ok. I did put it on about once a week to help dry out washing.

@MsFrenchie lol in a bent market clustered around bent states profits are everywhere. Suppliers and wholesalers run by the same companies "buy" and "sell" and "negotiate with" themselves globally and domestically and the entire corrupt edifice is built on shady Gulf State set ups. If only the entirety of what these chancers are taking from us was £20, it would be a dream.