The cap on fixed SVT set a ceiling on prices but there was no mechanism built in to manage the a situation where whole sale prices breached the retail cap. Anyone who comes off of a fixed tariff revert to SVT and thus the energy companies are force to sell to them at a loss.
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Zog Energy have gone bust - who the bell is buying their gas from ZOG?
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All i can say is LPG (bulk/tank) has always been staggeringly expensive compared to oil natural gas. At the moment its actually a lot cheaper than oil and maybe even cheaper than natural gas. So now the rest of the uk can feel the pinch that we have had to endure for years. Also i now have a free supply of firewood close to two years worth already cut.
Is there a smirking emoji? This is the best i could find 
It’s going to be interesting to see how this all plays out long term.
There’s a campaign that’s getting some traction in some corners.
It’s a campaign to not pay bills at all if they don’t reduce to reasonable (non price gouging) amounts.
A newspapers website has reported on it and it’s been mentioned as the modern day equivalent of the poll tax protest if it goes ahead.
What these things fail to mention is the affect on peoples finances. They are all well and good suggesting it until you have door step collectors at the door or bailiffs. I know people that were paying off Poll Tax debt for years due to all the interest and charges added. These campaigns are often quite irresponsible suggesting these things and vulnerable people end up even worse off. I get that bills are horrendous at the moment but not paying is just going to make things worse for those on low incomes in the longer term, the debt never goes.
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The worse part is : whose behind this ‘movement’
Media states it’s anonymous people to avoid repercussions.
if I where paranoid, I’d be thinking it’s a plot to set up the poorest who can’t pay currently to then be hauled out later to the next lot who can’t pay ‘this is the reason why your bill went up.’ and so on, and so on.
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I agree with both Emmie and Bagshaw, highly irresponsible advice and campaign which could have severe long-term and potentially career-threatening consequences to those who follow it. I’ve tried to look but cannot see who is behind them, but the fact they are banging on about “BP” and “Shell” as being behind the price rises and only make partial reference to Ukraine make me think it’s some kind of leftist or anarchist group, the likes of which I challenged when I was at university when they said they wanted to do a sit-in in Marks and Spencer, “at what point were you going to tell me about risking getting a criminal record if I joined you” I asked them, radio silence!
To expand on Bagshaw’s point, they are asking for donations on page 1, so while I don’t necessarily think they are deliberately setting people up, I would strongly advise people to be very wary of donating to or in any way supporting a movement with such unclear origins.
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Reading between the lines a certain amount of it reads like a bluff, trying to campaign to companies themselves / or the government.
Yes some will go ahead with it.
Some will genuinely do it.
Also as it says, if food prices were to rise much more, some might be in that situation for real and not be doing it to prove a (political) point.
One thing I do think the campaign has got right is if we have power on numbers the ‘cant pay’ people haven’t got enough resources to go after thousandsof people in one go.
A bit part of the campaign rests on that.
Power of numbers entirely correct, the French seem pretty good at this sort of thing (shame this government brought in laws to try prevent this sort of thing), they’ve protested fuel price increases before, though I believe some of the benefit might come from the fact the French government partially own some of their biggest energy companies
But the proposed route is ultimately a very silly thing to do (cancel the direct debit), as nowadays the account/payments are recorded on our credit reports and would show up as a default eventually if payments stopped, seems silly to hurt future mortgage applications and the like off the back of it.
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I think there is truth in the fact that this sort of action could hurt credit scores. Point taken.
I do think though that the ‘can’t pay’ high court bailiff’s will struggle to go after thousands of people, if a power in numbers momentul can be attained. The resource won’t be there.
I think this campaign does one thing, even if it’s all more of a bluff (which could be possible).
I think it shows that the proles are sick of it and are getting to a point where some are “tired of talk, and looking for concrete actions”. Rightly and wrongly, even though it’s reasonably possible that this whole campaign is a bluff, the motivations behind it may suggest some are seeking “less talk, more action”.
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Allthough I think this is largely a bluff. I do think it serves a purpose, even of it is a bluff.
Such high bills are unsustainable for many and something does need to be done, perhaps on the longer term.
If the threat of this sort of action, even if it’s mostly empty threats and a bluff, ultimately stirs someone in authority be that the heads of the energy companies or the government to do something, then that’s still a win.
A bluff in certain circumstances could be useful.
That said, like I say, there’s an element of possibility that some are more than “ready and willing to go the whole 9 yards”.
Quote from the Guardian:
Tom is one of the “15 to 20” working on the campaign. He is deliberately vague about his background, only disclosing that he has worked in “energy adjacent policy”, and declines to give his surname. “We’re not actually telling people not to pay, we’re saying ‘this is an idea’,
Their website, Don’t Pay UK doesn’t mention ‘idea’.
Inciting poor people to do this is highly irresponsible.
The fact that the organisers remain anonymous should raise a big red flag as to the ultimate motives of this campaign.
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Just to add to add thousands of people in Scotland stopped paying Poll Tax (similar to this idea) and they were still pursued for the balance. Court involvement tends to be much later in the day in Scotland (we don’t have bailiffs either), so by the time it does get to court, your £300 bill can be nearer £3000 with all the interest and charges and all the times it’s been sold on.
Home owners and anyone with assets would be at risk of enforced bankruptcy which would mean the trustee selling their home. I can bet you that a large number of the people behind this idea will be students who don’t actually understand the impact of these things on finances or have any real responsibility for bills.
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This!
I think it’s appalling that they remain anonymous, they are inciting the breaking of the law and doing so while hiding their true identities. The authorities should be looking into this.
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If the cap is really going to be £5000 next year it will be three times the cap in 2019.
Have i got this right prices are still going to go up 27% but we will all get £400 towards it? British gas is paying it into my bank account.
More beer money!
Correct on all accounts - it seems off personally for the money to be paid back into bank accounts rather than energy accounts. It then allows people to use the money for things other than energy at the time.
Fair enough if a credit is there then by all means that can be refunded in due course, but makes me think of allowing people to get into debt with their energy because they’ve bought £400 of other things (some may spend it on necessities, but I would not be surprised for others to spend on things that are not necessary).
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I am glad i got it right about the increase as i have accidentally added 1,000 kW to my meter read. That means i will be paying the lower price till i have used it up.
I Seem to make that mistake every time i move to higher cost supplier.
Agree daft thing to put the £400 into my beer account.
Definitely should be taken off your bill.