Don't pay high energy prices protest

[Gmamaofboys13]

Drawing MN users attention to a campaign where 1 million people cancel their direct debits on the 1st of October as a protest against the high energy prices:

dontpay.uk/

I have signed up to this, BUT it obviously doesn't come without it's risks.

I saw a potentially better option earlier. Someone who has worked in the energy industry for a long time suggested everyone makes a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman/Energy Ombudsman.

For every complaint made to the Ombudsman, it costs the energy company nearly £400. If we all do this, that will cost them hugely but we won't get any CCJs.

It's not perfect, of course, but it's worth considering.

Suppliers not allowed to cut you off these days, like they used to,so I assume eventually people will get taken to court. The huge debt will affect chances to get loan in the future,and the bills for everyone else will have to rise hugely to prevent more companies going bust.

What are the exact expectations? The site is called "Don't Pay", it talks about "cancelling our bills" but the only firm goal is to get a million people to cancel their direct debit. Which implies they're not expecting people not to pay, just move to a more expensive mechanism of payment. (Don't energy companies still charge you more if you don't pay by DD? Been so long I've not checked.)

All the suppliers extra costs will be added to future bills or reclaimed from the debtors, what’s the point? If you could stop using energy and leave them with a mountain of pre-purchased power, that might work.

Does anyone have a view on how domestic prices compare to those suppliers charge the likes of Tesco?

Amijustparanoid - How does it cost the company £400 per complaint and who do they have to pay that money to?

I'm a bit astounded by this too.

The ombudsman tells the gas company someone has complained.
The gas company look at the complaint and respond back
How does that cost £400?

What do you expect the government to do, electricity and gas is sold on the open market, if you don’t pay, you will get a key meter fitted for energy at a dearer price, if to many people do it all the remaining suppliers will go out of business, with no energy for any one, or , the energy companies will just sell the electric abroad,
You can’t go into a shop and refuse to pay your bill and walk out, this is no different,
it’s time to cut down on holidays, eating out, takeaways, subscription TV, Amazon prime, new phone, stop tumble drying, wear more clothes indoors, etc, pay your essentials first.

Signed up too.

Right but it's 2022. We all work really bloody hard and life is difficult enough as it is.

I'm all for living more sustainably, but the absolute astounding greed from these companies is incomprehensible.

It costs British Gas/the energy supplier £400 when a complaint against them is taken to the Ombudsman, whether they win a case or lose a case.

Taking a complaint to the Ombudsman, which you are within your absolute rights to do with any company regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (once you have made an initial complaint to the company), will simply cost THEM money. Even if the Ombudsman dismiss your complaint, the company will be out of pocket each time.

The more you know!

Mine is about 5% more expensive when not on DD.

Sorry the replies didn't go directly to @DenholmElliot1 and @Unphased.

They have to pay it to the Financial/Energy Ombudsman. If they get a million complaints forwarded to the Ombudsman rather than a million direct debits cancelled, that in essence has the same effect.

And their costs will then be added to their prices. This isn’t the ‘gotcha’ you think it is

Unphased - I'm curious, what advice do you have for those who already cut out luxuries like new phones, takeaways, heating, holidays, subscription tv, all tv etc 10 YEARS AGO. Those who have done all the above but are perhaps, ooh idk, disabled and unable to get a job? (Especially in this climate). How do people cut back when there is nothing left to cut back? I'm not advocating for not paying bills but I do think you are oversimplifying a major problem.

Done on a large scale, won't that mean that prices rise further and energy companies fold, giving us less choice in the market?

The customer always pays one way or the other.

How would that help? That cost would literally have to come from somewhere - they will have to put their prices up further to cover this cost. SMH.

But surely before you can take any complaint to any ombudsman you have to have exhausted the companies complaints procedure first. You can't just start with the ombudsman, they will dismiss your complaint straight out.

Not if the FCA/Ofgem/Government have to or choose to get involved at that point to solve the chaos.

Unless they all want more complaints made about them? Again, it's not perfect but it's a good way to protest without getting a CCJ/forced prepayment.

But realistically, whoever the next PM is will probably come and swoop in with more "help" before it gets to this point, making themselves out to be heroes because they are so wildly unpopular at the minute.

Yeah you do, I said that upthread

amijustparanoidorjuststoned
the greed of what companies, most suppliers are running at a loss, at the moment,
yess this is 2022, but it doesn’t mean things are going to get easy, what with Covid now a war,

This is the most lazy arsed and unproductive form of civil protest since... let's turn all the lights out at 10pm.

So it isn’t “don’t pay”, it’s “don’t pay by DD”. We still have to pay our bills one way or another, and this won’t hurt the energy companies one bit.

I think you'd be surprised! If nothing else it would cause an administrative nightmare.

But if you're willing to pay that amount of money, then good luck to you.