Don’t Pay ……….. Will you be signing up? I’m in!

I don't have the balls for this, not paying a bill would give me so much anxiety.

Mostly because we are struggling and not paying the bill will put me in debt because we are going without things and I might think we can have them and not think to put the money aside for later.

My respect to those who do though.

If you read the link, the first stage is to get people to pledge to stop direct debits if the government don’t address the issue by 1/10/22.
If enough people pledge hopefully it will make the government and energy companies listen and act.
There may not need to be any further action.

Sorry sago

I will do that now

But the government HAS responded to this energy hike hasn’t it?
Every single household will get £400 and our age group get an additional £300 on top of the £100 each, winter fuel allowance we already get.
Pretty generous surely?
The poor will get additional help.

Of course some people, especially those who expect the government to subsidise their chosen lifestyle, (umpteen children etc) no additional help will ever be deemed enough.

I think you have to be prepared to back a pledge if you sign it, Sago.

It's not for me. Although I think the government should be doing much more with the standing charge. You cannot avoid it even if the gas is turned off. It should carry a required minimum amount of fuel with it.

They should also be charging the cheapest price for the first x number of units, steadily making it more expensive.

They won't though will they

As a mother of umpteen children, we don't get additional help and we don't want help from the government. We want energy companies making enormous profits, which they don't even pass on to their own struggling employees, to stop taking the micky because we can't live without them.

OK I've signed up now

I can see this back-firing. There are over 27 million households in the UK. If a million households do stop paying some of those households will still be with smaller energy companies. They will go bust. The larger ones will carry on and hold out. Less choice of supplier More profit for the big boys. more people with pre payment meters paying more for their fuel

I am seriously considering cancelling my DD and paying for usage only.

maddyone

Have you all forgotten the money you're being given? Most of us won’t be paying for it, just receiving it. Those younger than us will be paying for it through their taxes. I still pay tax so I will be paying, but others will pay much more. How much more do you want to load on to younger people to pay?

We all still pay tax Maddy !

Presumably you are referring to Income Tax, which is only about 25% of all taxes collected.

We pay VAT/various other taxes on most goods and services e.g. energy, insurance, pensions, building work, clothes, many foods, restaurants, etc.

Even the poorest in society pay their taxes, one way or another.

HousePlantQueen

I am seriously considering cancelling my DD and paying for usage only.

Hi, yes, I was thinking of doing that too but my agreement advises that there is a higher charge if I don't pay by dd.

I doubt if we will sign up to this, as in my view (and others here) I believe it will exacerbate the problem. There may be an argument for stopping the direct debits, but not if our bills increase as a result.

They should also be charging the cheapest price for the first x number of units, steadily making it more expensive.

That's an excellent idea.

The larger ones will carry on and hold out. Less choice of supplier More profit for the big boys. more people with pre payment meters paying more for their fuel.

Yes. This is the bigger picture. 31 smaller energy companies have already gone bust, thus making the bigger companies ever less competitive and the consumer having fewer choices and paying higher prices in a smaller marketplace. And when energy companies fail because they're not financially viable (due to customers not paying their bills for example) that's passed onto every other energy company and we all pay more.

I cancelled Sky because they wanted me to pay 3 months in advance. I'm not paying for future services that may or may not happen so they can have my money warning interest.

Direct debit to emergy companies does the same. I pay more in summer due to use in winter and they hve money for services not received to gain interest on.

I spend more in summer as we are out and about more.

I think I will actually do this and pay for what I actually use when I use it

I also have a larger than average family VioletSky but I didn’t expect to sponge off the State to subsidise our decision.
I wasn’t talking about responsible people who think long and hard about their finances before adding to their family.

Like everyone though it’s so galling to think of the massive profits Shell and the like are raking in when the rest of us just have to get on and pay these wildly inflated prices.

The government is helping though. That’s the main thing to bear in mind.

Just have a nominal sum for DD, say £50, to get the discount for having a DD, then top up each month to the actual amount.

I do this with Octopus - you get a monthly bill after a meter reading.

All online, quick and easy. This way I don't build up large a credit in the summer, nor risk a debit in the winter.

use it, pay for it. Cut the cloth accordingly and I am definitely not signing

Not for me. rosie makes a good point about the possible damage this could do to someone's credit rating and I agree with others that this could do more harm than good.

HousePlantQueen

I am seriously considering cancelling my DD and paying for usage only.

I wonder how many will do just that?

I know we all pay tax Riverwalk.But some of us pay more than others. I pay some tax on my income. I agree that I should pay tax on my income, but I don’t agree that my grandchildren should have to pay for our heating bills now, when they are tax payers in the future.

maddyone

No, I won’t be signing up either.

No way!

I'm another who won't be signing

So it seems as a pensioner I'm getting:
£400 (for everyone)
£200 (winter fuel allowance)
£300 (extra winter fuel allowance)
Total: £900
That seems very generous to me, so I won't be signing. Like others, I don't want the stress, don't want to mess up my credit rating, and don't want to rock the energy boat as that may bring us all extra grief in the long run.

maddyone

I know we all pay tax Riverwalk.But some of us pay more than others. I pay some tax on my income. I agree that I should pay tax on my income, but I don’t agree that my grandchildren should have to pay for our heating bills now, when they are tax payers in the future.

You really don't have to worry about your grandchildren'paying' for this in the future.

I know that few people believe me, but taxation really doesn't fund spending.

(And even Jacob Rees Mogg admitted the other day that most of the UK's 'debt' is owed to its own bank, the Bank of England., so no worry about 'paying it back')

Re taxpaying by various sectors of society. We've been over this before. It is actually the poorest 10% who pay the greatest percentage of their income in taxes. That is from figures from one of the government agencies (I forget which one, probably the ONS)

Progressive pricing for energy seems like a really good idea, BTW.

Afraid I don’t have the balls to sign up I can imagine it all going wrong
I d happily join a protest March definitely but that’s as far as I dare go

I change my amount of direct debit so that I don't pay too much in the summer. The energy companies don't like it and you get warnings that you may have a deficit at the end of the year, but you can do it.