To wonder why we haven't had protests about the energy bills rising?

[ChubbyCaterpillar]

Where's the uproar?
I can't understand how these energy companies are allowed to make the profits they do and continue to increase their costs.
Even if the government do step in it seems like they will only support people already on the breadline. Rather than put proper caps on the bills so it helps everyone.
Do you think protests will happen? Why haven't they already?

Absolutely.

Although I'm wondering what it'll take before the government act. It seems they're looking to see who blinks first but it's going to get nasty when we start finding old age pensioners and the poor dead at home.

I hope I'm wrong but you can't put it past this government.

There was a useful post on the BBC news site earlier. It said that you will pay more if you don't pay by DD. If you don't pay st all you are indeed at risk of having a prepaid meter installed.

I think there will be riots on the streets next year btw.

If you pay by DD even if you are "overpaying" it contributes to your overall bill so will help subsidise the colder winter months. You're not just giving the energy companies extra money for nothing?!

Also Martin Lewis has not said to cancel your DD's.

This. I have been overpaying for years. Am still in credit even now.

Because it’s easier for posters talking about riots and protests happening to just say it on mn than do it

Riots that's quite serious . Don't think I'd want to be caught up in a riot, or that it would achieve anything.

What about schools having to close because they can't afford to open . Nursing homes not being able to heat their homes etc and pushing the charges up sky high.
What a mess the world is in.

Truth to be told, because it hasn't kicked in fully yet and the new cap has not been confirmed...so there are people like me without a fix, who are screwed, but in denial until freezing my tits off/hoping for a last minute reprieve or miracle.
Ostriching like an eejit.
I am sad and frustrated as I was in a fix from Aug 19 til Jan 22 and paid way more than I should have then...which is why the present cap has not shocked me as much as it did others. But in January, Martin Lewis did advise not to fix if it was higher than the April cap...so I didn't.
Big mistake. Huge.
Am now fucked. Will be crammed in one room under duvets. Our house was 9 degrees at one point last Winter. It's difficult.

I often wonder this. As a nation, myself included, we seem quite passive. I think we are all very busy keeping afloat too. Young men are generally in emoyment now and they seem to riot more.

I personally have been quite alarmed by a lot of the changes than weaken our ability to hold the government to account - but i cant work out at what point i would pitch up at parliment and protest..

I've just had a look at the enough is enough website, it lost me at raise minimum wage to £15 per hour, do they really believe small businesses would be able to survive that.

The idea of don't pay is refusing to pay, not cancelling DD.

If you don't pay at all you will end up with a meter.

Thing is, the energy suppliers aren't making the money, it's the producers.

And the tariff rate for pay on bill rather than DD is higher, so you just pay more in the long run.

I thought that as well.
I wonder if they will organise any protests etc?

Why is cancelling your direct debit an idiotic idea exactly?? It means that energy companies aren’t making money off you being in credit. You pay what you owe when they ask is the idea

Because people are being misled into thinking they're 'winning' or even saving money. Only paying £80 in August instead of the £300 DD the nasty energy company set up? Wonderful!

Except people won't plan ahead and people look at % rises and the annual cost of the 'average' energy use without having any real concept of what their bills will be. Many will follow the wonderful advice to 'pay what they use' but won't be saving extra to cover massive winter bills.

For someone who paid £150 in gas last December - for the exact same usage, this December they'll be charged £420. Just gas. One month.

That's what the rise is in real terms. Many many people still don't understand this. They're going to be slapped with a £2k bill of underpaid energy by Spring that they can't pay.

DD's being much higher than usage through the summer is for a damn good reason and the posts encouraging people to cancel their DD's, with minimal further advice, is going to royally fuck up the most gullible and most vulnerable.

£15/h is about right IMO. Small and medium-sized businesses should have lower corporation tax rates to offset the salary costs.

As a country we really shouldn't be expecting top up benefits to make up for insufficient wages.

But that is less than 2k a month without paying into a pension (on a 37 hour week). If your rent/mortgage is say 700 (and that’s would be substantially more in the south) and your energy bills £400, that leaves you around 800 to pay council tax, water, travel, food etc. add child care into the mix and you can see it’s undoable. The only reason wages have been able to be so low is they are topped up by benefits which is wrong on so many levels. Companies should pay a living wage - and that living wage now needed has just shot up.

I think it is only a matter of time Op. We are in the middle of summer, the next harvest could be a shit one. It will really hit in winter. I think 2023 is when we will see it.

Look at economic and social patterns through history. The charts all hint that the 2020's were going to be a time of crisis, however it is an opportunity to take stock and do things better too.

I just had a look at the Enough Is Enough campaign too.

I like the idea but not sure how realistic is all is. Unfortunately.

Hasn't everyone already got a meter anyway ? It's how they tell how many units you use

It is shocking how many people fail to understand the point of paying a constant DD amount rather than an actual monthly use amount. Guess they'll learn in winter

The reality of the situation won't kick in until the bills hit and people can't pay.

Two people each on £15 per hour for a 40-hour week will earn a household income of £62,000 per year.

I don’t think that mandating that as a minimum wage makes any sense at all.

Martin Lewis is NOT advising people to cancel their DD.

What I have seen advised is to start a complaint and follow it right through to the ombudsmun.

They get charged for every compliant.

They will destroy you over not paying their bills. While you get charged nothing for complaints

Sorry, I meant a PAYG meter. The sort you put money into, and it gets used as an when.

Don't be stupid. And don't post this shite