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?

A woman posted on here the other day about how she was going to be expected to pay these bills and then so the status quo and pay thousands in childcare on top and everybody lost their minds. So much so that they reported the OP and the entire thread got shut down....

I don't think people will have each others backs and protest at all when the shit hits the fan. People only care about making sure someone else has it worse than they do.

You’ll just end up with a pre paid meter !

Another day and another thread calling for riots 🙄

If you don’t pay you will just ruin your credit rating and be taken to court/be cut off. No one of going to supply you for free 🤪

@ImWell I think Boris promised a huge nuclear power station building push in the UK, I wonder where we are with this?

Levels of disposable income

www.reuters.com/world/uk/one-fifth-uk-households-had-negative-disposable-income-june-says-asda-2022-07-25/

One fifth of British households had "negative disposable income" last month, with a shortfall between what they earned and what they needed to spend on essentials, UK supermarket group Asda said on Monday.

I take it you know how there are a lot of households who don't have savings or who have less than a month's salary of savings?

So if people spend more than they earn, and the cost of heating and other essentials goes up, and they have little savings, what happens?

That can't be your energy prediction for October moving forwards, people living on their own in studio flats are getting quoted that, and couples living in 1-2 bed flats are getting quoted around £300. I myself have been quoted £500+ for a three bed semi.

People are posting their bills all over Twitter and tiktok. You need to check again and make sure you don't get a nasty shock in a few months time. Only way I could believe this is if you have solar panels.

And this is a good thing to remember. If you miss your utility payment, it can appear on your credit report. If you continue to miss it, your score will go down. You won't be hurting anyone but yourself.

Yep and if you get or have a prepayment instead and don’t pay then no supply

Takes years to plan, fund and build. We don't know if Hinckley Point will cost us money or not but the Govt have agreed a price per megawatt. No one wants a nuke on their street or a waste repository. Water intensive I think unless you use seawater but Fukushima did that.

Iirc the proposed Suffolk plant is currently being protested against

Yep, it's being challenged

amp.theguardian.com/business/2022/aug/08/sizewell-c-nuclear-plant-approval-faces-legal-challenge

I’ve cancelled my direct debit, but am just paying for what I use. I’m with Octopus and they just bill me monthly according to my smart meter readings. The companies don’t like this as they want the overpayments to be in their bank earning interest. Octopus keep calling me to check if I’d like to re in state my direct debit. So this is like my mini protest - making things that bit more difficult for them.

I've just done a quick calculation. For someone with a total bill averaging 400 a month, 4800 a year, with 8 months at 200 and 4 months at 800, the interest cost of paying at those rates instead of a flat 400 a month for 12 months is 12 pounds. That at an interest rate of 1.5%, which Chase bank offers.

So a person with above energy costs could save one pound a month by not smoothing their payments. An average person would save less.

''@Earlystartsmakemegrumpy ·
Martin Lewis has not told people to cancel their direct debits! This is an idiotic idea.''

Why would this be an idiotic idea?

The principle is to cancel the direct debit so that companies don't get away with charging ridiculously high ''estimated'' costs.

For some people it will make sense to do that and pay when they receive a bill showing the real usage.

It doesn't mean not paying.

There are also campaigns encouraging people refuse to pay full stop.

I think things will get worse in the winter and we will see more organised action/protest then.

I doubt they care about interest. I suspect what they care about is people building up debts, some of which will have to be written off, after debt collectors fail to recover all that is owed.

It used to be the case that paying a regular amount be direct debit was actually cheaper than paying for exactly what you use, I suspect for this reason. They should all do that now, at least to the extent of nullifying the less than a pound a month interest profit they get from smoothed payments.

''@Festoonlights ·
Another day and another thread calling for riots 🙄If you don’t pay you will just ruin your credit rating and be taken to court/be cut off. No one of going to supply you for free 🤪''

You don't get it do you?

Strange how many people just don't grasp the idea that many people just don't have the money to pay for this outrageous increases. The ''you have to pay'' mantra is not going to mean anything to them. They can't pay.

The utilities are making obscene profits by exploiting UK consumers while other countries/government have managed to protect their citizens from the worse.

That's the reality of it.

Hardly something to joke about with silly emojis.

The principle is to cancel the direct debit so that companies don't get away with charging ridiculously high ''estimated'' costs.

I find the whole idea that one has to cancel direct debit in order to avoid over-paying bizarre. I've been with several companies over the years, and as far as I know I've always been free to set my direct debit at whatever level I felt was appropriate. I was never forced to pay what the company thought I would use. When I felt their estimate was wrong, I simply logged into their web-site and changed my direct debit to what I wanted it to be.

This year I've changed my direct debit three or four times, at my own initiative and discretion, which is unusually often, but a consequence of the unusual times.

i’m not going to be rioting despite people desperate on mn desperate to whip us all up into a frenzy. I also can’t see any point in cancelling my dd to then pay by cheque or something else and end up in arrears. Pointless

Because what France is doing is stupid, even given they get energy from nuclear rather than gas.

If the government wanted to solve the problem purely by manipulating energy prices, they should actually raise prices, by putting an extra tax on consumption, so prices go up even more than they underlying rates. Then they should use the extra money to pay a flat subsidy to household on Universal Credit. The increased prices would hit the rich, who use more energy, harder, and would force everyone to try even harder to economise, putting some downward pressure on demand and therefore prices. The poor would be helped, and the total amount paid for energy would be marginally lower than it would have been, and government finances would not be impacted.

(If helping only people on universal credit is deemed too narrow, they should expand the definition of who is eligible for that.)

In many cases they will cut down on discretionary spending to remain able to heat their homes.

No data to back up the claim then?

How do we join?

Stop paying your bill.

In response the energy company will change you to a more expensive ore-paid meter, and then if you don’t pay both your bill and your arrears you will receive no electricity.

You don’t have to stop paying your bill to John the Enough is Enough campaign.

Honeatly such scaremongering bullshit from fraidy cats who’d rather spend their lives being shafted by billionaires than stick up for themselves for a nanosecond

The people with the huge bills are not being careful

More likely that they are living in substandard private rentals or social housing rather than being “not careful” According to Shelter, 43% of people live in homes that fail to meet minimum standards, which include basic things like whether the home can be heated effectively and has hot and cold water. Demographically, 55% of households with incomes of at most £9,499 live in homes that fail the test according to at least one dimension, in contrast to 31% of households with an income of more than £50,000. This is yet another reason why the energy crisis is affecting low income households more than higher income households. Not only do they have less money to spend on energy, they are far more likely to be living in substandard homes that cost more to heat/have hot water.

Going to get slated for this but...

I don't think the Enough is Enough campaign is really for me. It feels a bit too union based.

It would be great if anyone knows of any movements that are more neutral and just focused on energy prices.

It just feels a bit like there may be an ulterior motive with the campaign. Which may get in the way of it being effective for everyone.