“Don’t Pay UK” Green Energy Bill Strike Gathers Momentum

Essay by Eric Worrall

h/t JoNova; Skyrocketing UK green energy bills have finally provoked a response, with 90,000 Britons and rising pledging not to pay their energy bills, until the government brings prices down to affordable levels.

We are a movement against the rise in energy bills

• We demand a reduction in energy bills to an affordable level.
• We will cancel our direct debits from Oct 1, if we are ignored.
• We will take this action if pledges reach 1 million by then.

The Plan:

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 think we can get there:

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Read more: https://dontpay.uk

Ofcom has responded by begging people not to boycott their bills;

Ofgem begs customers not to boycott paying their gas bills

Gergana Krasteva Sunday 7 Aug 2022 10:29 am

rits have been urged not to take part in a growing civil disobedience campaign over the rise of energy bills. 

Tens of thousands of people have already cancelled their gas and electricity direct debit payments from October 1 as part of the Don’t Pay movement.

Run by anonymous activists, the grassroots campaign is calling for households to boycott their bills in response to the energy crisis, which is driving millions into poverty.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Ofgem’s CEO Jonathan Brearley warned this could hike up costs for everyone.

‘I know everyone is extremely worried about paying their energy bill,’ he said.

‘But absolutely I would not encourage anyone to join a campaign like this for two reasons.

…

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2022/08/07/ofgem-begs-customers-not-to-boycott-paying-their-gas-bills-17140495/

What a horrible situation.

If a million people stop paying their bills, there’s a real risk the government will play hardball, and simply cut them off, while running continuous BBC propaganda campaigns blaming Don’t Pay “freeloaders” for everything wrong with modern life.

But energy bills are so intolerable in Britain right now, many people will likely not be able to afford their energy bills anyway. Maybe Don’t Pay supporters feel they have nothing to lose.

A quick resolution to this crisis is unlikely. If the British Government started right now, stopped jerking Caudrilla around and gave the go-ahead for their Lancashire shale gas extraction plans, it might make a small difference by this Winter – but it would still take years to fully normalise domestic energy prices.

President Obama once explained how green energy would make bills skyrocket, which is exactly what has now happened. But Obama never explained what to do when ordinary people rebel against the gratuitous hardship of unaffordable green energy.