Dont Pay, Energy bills mass action?

[dockers_strike]

Will it work? Dont Pay has been set up to start a mass action of not paying your gas and leccie bill from 1 October if the new price cap is increased to over 3 grand a year.

 

It's simple: we are demanding a reduction of energy bills to an affordable level. Our leverage is that we will gather a million people to pledge not to pay if the government goes ahead with another massive hike on October 1st.

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.

Even if a fraction of those of us who are paying by direct debit stop our payments, it will be enough to put energy companies in serious trouble, and they know this. We want to bring them to the table and force them to end this crisis. Here’s how we get think we can get there

 

https://dontpay.uk/

[Kevin D]

Good stuff.

[Strontium]

Reminds me of when I was about 4 years old and I asked my parents why can't everything be free.

[Bjornebye]

Good to see. Obviously those happy to sit back and take it up the arse will have some smarmy comment to make just for their own self importance.
 

I don’t think it will take off, I hope it does. 

[Mook]

About fucking time folk started getting a back bone.

[clangers]

Definitely, if it ends up with millions not paying it'll break the energy companies forcing the government to step in. Rationally at that point you'd nationalise but this government will just prop them up pushing billions their way for nothing in return as they already are doing.

[dockers_strike]

15 minutes ago, Strontium said:

Reminds me of when I was about 4 years old and I asked my parents why can't everything be free.

Out of the mouth of babes and all that. But seriously, I dont think most people think things like energy should be free. What they do question is when something is top loaded with levies and tax. Why should energy be VATable?

 

Anyway, I thought this was a good site as well. Show what the current demand on the grid is and what the supply source is.

 

https://gridwatch.co.uk/

[Guest]

Won’t they all have their power cut off? Can’t see it going to plan at all.

[TD_LFC]

And presumably will put people into more debt.

 

Would be hell of a risk for lots of people.

[Mook]

1 minute ago, TD_LFC said:

And presumably will put people into more debt.

 

Would be hell of a risk for lots of people.

Not really, just stick the money you'd pay every month into a savings account instead.

 

People should be far more positive about this, I suggested it months ago in another thread and am over the moon someone has had the gumption to kick it off.

 

This is the only way people can get things done, by sticking together and fighting.

[TD_LFC]

Just now, Mook said:

Not really, just stick the money you'd pay every month into a savings account instead.



That's the sensible approach, not sure it's the most likely though.

[Strontium]

8 minutes ago, Shooter in the Motor said:

Won’t they all have their power cut off?

 

It's one way of lowering your energy bill I suppose.

[Rico1304]

No.  
 

I’m sure a policy creating mass unemployment, destroying credit ratings and making the U.K. a place that is impossible to invest in will take off. 

[Rico1304]

4 minutes ago, Mook said:

Not really, just stick the money you'd pay every month into a savings account instead.

 

People should be far more positive about this, I suggested it months ago in another thread and am over the moon someone has had the gumption to kick it off.

 

This is the only way people can get things done, by sticking together and fighting.

What about mass shoplifting?  Food is expensive. 

[Rico1304]

11 minutes ago, Shooter in the Motor said:

Won’t they all have their power cut off? Can’t see it going to plan at all.

It would take a while to go through the process to get a warrant to cut people off.  Maybe a year from the first missed payment but it’s been a while since I worked on this. 

[Mook]

13 minutes ago, Rico1304 said:

What about mass shoplifting?  Food is expensive. 

A ridiculous comparison.

 

Food hasn't trebled in price over the course of a few months & nobody is asking for their power for free, only that measures are put in place to keep the prices down.

[Rico1304]

2 minutes ago, Mook said:

A ridiculous comparison.

 

Food hasn't trebled in price over the course of a few months & nobody is asking for their power for free, only that measures are put in place to keep the prices down.

It’s exactly the same.  The same pressure on gas has raised the food prices. 
 

What measures exactly are you asking for? 
 

The margin on energy retailers is about 2%.  How do you think not paying your retailer would impact on wholesalers? 

[Bjornebye]

Things like this while energy costs rise pisses people off. Sunak has said he is going to block more on-shore wind farms. 

 

SSE chief's pay rises 47% as energy prices soar – Daily Business (dailybusinessgroup.co.uk)

 

Energy company boss Alistair Phillips-Davies was handed a 47% hike in his pay package last year as consumers saw bills rocket.

The chief executive of Perth-based SSE was paid salary and benefits of £4.5 million, driven by a generous bonus scheme.

 

The FTSE 100 group, which has emerged as one of the UK’s biggest wind farm operators,  has enjoyed soaring profits as prices have risen.

 

Mr Phillips-Davies was among those who criticised Chancellor Rishi Sunak over a proposed windfall tax on electricity companies which have benefited from high wholesale prices.

 

This wiped billions of pounds off the value of companies such as SSE, Drax and Centrica and even triggered criticism from the Labour Party which spent months pressuring the government for a windfall tax.

 

SSE has pledged to invest more than £24bn this decade in clean energy infrastructure in Britain.

 

It is developing vast new wind projects such as Dogger Bank off England’s north-east coast, which will be the world’s biggest offshore farm when it is finished in 2026.

 

An SSE spokesman said: “SSE’s remuneration policy was designed following extensive consultation with shareholders and supports the successful delivery of our net zero-focused strategy.”

 

National Grid boss John Pettigrew, saw his remuneration hit a record £6.5m in the 2021-22 financial year as the heads of Britain’s biggest utility companies have become some of the highest paid executives in Britain.

 

The chief executive of Water company Severn Trent has been paid nearly £4m.  The total package of Liv Garfield rose in value by £830,000 last year.  Perks and bonuses accounted for more than £3m of the total. 

 

In December, the company was fined £1.5m for illegally dumping 80,000 gallons of sewage into Worcestershire watercourses. 

[Gnasher]

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/uk-big-six-energy-firms-one-billion-pounds-profit-cost-of-living-increase/

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/may/18/officers-should-use-discretion-over-stealing-to-eat-says-uk-police-watchdog

 

 

 

[Mook]

17 minutes ago, Rico1304 said:

It’s exactly the same.  The same pressure on gas has raised the food prices. 
 

What measures exactly are you asking for? 
 

The margin on energy retailers is about 2%.  How do you think not paying your retailer would impact on wholesalers? 

Some measures they could take...

 

1. Fuck any bonuses off for the power companies

2. Fuck any salary increases off for the Directors

3. The government capped the prices in France, perhaps the government could take a look at that model 

4. Nationalisation

5. Maybe the government could have a night off from getting pished on Bollinger & put their heads together to work out a way to help the population through this crisis

6. Fuck any HS2 type vanity projects off and pump the money into this problem instead

 

Again, this project isn't about not paying bills, it is about sending a message that enough is enough. The date it begins is over two months away, time for certain measures to be put in place. These price hikes are going to kill people in the winter.

[Rico1304]

I still dont get how now paying, say, Octopus who have only made a profit once (and are losing money now) will solve the problem.  They will go bump, take all their customers money with them and then the fund to protect customers will replace that money putting more of a burden on customers. 
 

Honestly I’ll all ears (and a lot of nose) 

[Rico1304]

13 minutes ago, Mook said:

Some measures they could take...

 

1. Fuck any bonuses off for the power companies

2. Fuck any salary increases off for the Directors

3. The government capped the prices in France, perhaps the government could take a look at that model 

4. Nationalisation

5. Maybe the government could have a night off from getting pished on Bollinger & put their heads together to work out a way to help the population through this crisis

6. Fuck any HS2 type vanity projects off and pump the money into this problem instead

 

Again, this project isn't about not paying bills, it is about sending a message that enough is enough. The date it begins is over two months away, time for certain measures to be put in place. These price hikes are going to kill people in the winter.

1) What do you mean by power companies? 
2) Why would not paying directors bonuses  have any impact?

3) Lobby the government then 

4) Ain’t happening 

5) Lobby the government then

6) Shows you know fuck all if you think HS2 is a vanity project 

[Mook]

3 minutes ago, Rico1304 said:

1) What do you mean by power companies? 
2) Why would not paying directors bonuses  have any impact?

3) Lobby the government then 

4) Ain’t happening 

5) Lobby the government then

6) Shows you know fuck all if you think HS2 is a vanity project 

Nae bother.

[Babb'sBurstNad]

[Creator Supreme]

Whilst the rest of the public transport infrastructure in this country is on it's knees, HS2 is, was, and always will be a vanity project!

 

Cutting journey times from Birmingham to London by 20 or so minutes should not be the primary driver in infrastructure decisions!