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/

The shell and British gas profits are from the wholesale price for gas - this comes down to demand. If the British retailers don't pay enough because their customers (us) aren't paying then the gas will be sold to other countries and you really don't want to see what that will look like.

Good luck but I'm defiantly still paying mine. Will be waiting to see threads appearing when your gas and electricity is cut off and in debt.

I assume you are also protesting against climate change activists and the net zero agenda? Because most of this mess comes down to that

I will pay what I can afford but can't not pay. Things like needing to sign up to another fixed term on my mortgage etc, can't risk it. But I fully understand why some people won't pay. Just make sure you are not messing up your future. From things I've read, if you pay £0 you are stealing, if you pay what you can reasonably afford (maybe what you used to pay monthly) then that isn't seen as bad

You'll just end up with a pre-paid meter and a hit to your credit rating.

If you have a smart meter then I am pretty sure they can change you over to prepayment without access to your property.

I'm sure the bills of all those who can't or won't pay will be clawed back from the rest of us. I am normally all for protesting or taking action but I don't think this is it.

That sounds more sensible.

It’s certainly not a majority view - polling shows net zero is popular and climate change is a top 5 (sometimes top 3) voter concern

Who have they asked? The Guardian readers? Most people are busy working hard and have no time for 'polls', focus groups or other nonsense. Polls often get it wrong anyway

Mass non-payment is not a new idea, it happened in the UK in the late 80s and 90s, when more than 17 million people refused to pay the Poll Tax – helping bring down the government and reversing its harshest measures.

And most people were chased to pay off those poll tax debts. Muppet dh was a teen at the time and thought all the protests would mean they would be written off eventually and he let them build up, he had to go to sheriff court and pay weekly to get them cleared and had a terrible credit rating for years.

This protest has been poorly thought out and negligent. Cancelling energy direct debits will just end up with many vulnerable people who do not understanding what is being asked and/or the implications getting themselves into even deeper financial trouble with little in the way of support around the legalities.

That was meant for another thread. Apologies

Even if you cancel your direct debit with the bank, the utilities company will just re-instate it as you're in a contract with them and still owe the money.

Who are the people behind this campaign?

I cancelled my direct debit at the beginning of the year when my fixed term ended. Now I give my meter readings each month and pay what I've used.

If this campaign was that then fair enough but I believe it's cancel and don't pay (correct me if I'm wrong).

I'm going to really protest these prices by...
Getting a ccj and ending up with a prepay meter that will mean I pay more for my electricity and my credit will be fucked for years.

Yeah. That'll show those energy bastards who's boss! 🤔

Do people think those who protested poll tax got let off from paying it in the end?

People who will no doubt continue to pay their own bills (or their parents will continue paying them).

Why would we be complaining to the Ombudsman? Wholesale energy prices aren’t the fault of the energy companies.

I’m keeping track of my usage and calculating how much I should be paying over the course of the year. If they try and put my direct debit up in excess of what seems reasonable, I will cancel it (and pay monthly instead). Assuming they let me keep a reasonable direct debit amount that reflects my actual utilisation, it will remain in place.

Yes I hate it that it’s going to cost so much and of course, it’ll be a difficult winter, but I’m not just making a bigger problem for myself over it.

If anyone is thinking about doing this -> please don't.

It's really, really fucking stupid on a personal level and a completely ineffective protest.

How does increasing the costs of energy companies through a pointless protest help anyone, exactly?

The people that still supply the green taxes on are bills, can’t complain about high prices, fire up the coal powered generation plants, there’s decades of coal under the U.K. , Hinckley B stopped producing today, so more Electric from Gas, bill’s will go higher

Have you seen the shareholder profits one of them just posted?

Have you not thought to consider that the costs would just be passed back to the consumers, i.e. the very people protesting in the first place?

surely this will affect your credit rating? Otherwsie I'd probably be happy to do it.

That’s not the actual suppliers profit, I think most of them are actually losing money at the moment, the profits are not all the shareholders, if they don’t make a profit, how do they reinvest in their infrastructure and production facilities?

Are you feeling quite okay?

I wasn’t actually advocating either course of action I was just saying that the “ombudsman complaint protest” idea was much sensible than the “all let’s stop paying for our fuel” idea, should one fell the need to protest.

What OP is suggesting I’d a truly dreadful idea.

Besides, if people are paying the full capped price level (now? soon?), they are hardly likely to worry about prices being passed into them, are they? They’re already paying the maximum and they’re angry enough to want to protest (probably futile but I do sympathise).