[Finance] Don't Pay - Energy Bill Strike Movement

[GT49er]

Sadly with the increases in standing charges, you'll only be able to do so much

I realise the rise in gas prices (including gas used to generate electricity) is rocketing up - but why is it costing them any more to maintain the pipes/wires feeding us the power? In other words, what are the purported justifications for raising the standing charge?

 

[Chinman3000]

I don't like how much food is costing in the supermarket now.

I'm not going to pay for my trolley load any more. Perhaps we should start a movement.

This may well be next. Is it really too much for people to be able to eat and be warm?

 

[nicko31]

Good way to get yourself on a pre-payment meter and pay even more. Bad idea and targeting the wrong people, ie retail, not primary producers

 

[Arthur]

That would depend on whether you're a billionaire or not.

Unfortunately not.

If enough people agree with you, sure. eg the Poll Tax

Sadly don't think they would. Likewise I can't see many people volunteering to potentially have their gas and leccy cut off or forced on to a pre-pay meter because they aren't keen on the cost.

 

[dazzer6666]

The plan is cancel the DD, put the money aside and pay what you owe after a couple of months. You'd not get a black mark on your credit score.

Black marks typically start after 30 days……

 

[Justice]

Interesting listening to an energy broker the other day, The major companies have bought enough energy to last until 2026 at the old prices. They are charging todays prices on old stock ie hence the huge profits they are making.
If we could all buy direct from the wholesale market we would be paying pennies per Kw/hr.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Interesting listening to an energy broker the other day, The major companies have bought enough energy to last until 2026 at the old prices. They are charging todays prices on old stock ie hence the huge profits they are making.
If we could all buy direct from the wholesale market we would be paying pennies per Kw/hr.

What do you mean by the ‘major companies ?’ Your retail energy supplier is unlikely to have hedged until 2026. That’s why they are going bust. Any part of the chain that has done so would have taken enormous risk and had to set aside significant capital for such long term trades in illiquid markets. Energy brokers talk out of their arses.

 

[beorhthelm]

encourage people to come off direct debit, the companies have been milking consumers for a long time with forward payment. asking for prices to be cut when electricity prices have significantly risen is just a forlorn hope and wont be achieved. campaign would be better to simply tell people to get off DD, its irresponsible to market itself as "dont pay" which will harm a lot of people.

 

[Commander]

I don't like how much food is costing in the supermarket now.

I'm not going to pay for my trolley load any more. Perhaps we should start a movement.

Already started https://www.northstandchat.com/show...o-Op-Hove-seafront&highlight=shoplifting+coop

 

[Justice]

What do you mean by the ‘major companies ?’ Your retail energy supplier is unlikely to have hedged until 2026. That’s why they are going bust. Any part of the chain that has done so would have taken enormous risk and had to set aside significant capital for such long term trades in illiquid markets. Energy brokers talk out of their arses.

The markets big players EDF, SHELL etc. only the small players went bust as they could only buy very small amounts of energy at a time to resell.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

The markets big players EDF, SHELL etc. only the small players went bust as they could only buy very small amounts of energy at a time to resell.

In a lot of cases they would have chosen not to buy forward. Airlines tend to operate in the same way. They don’t want to tie up the capital required for long term hedging and they always hope the price goes down anyway. I think you are mixing up a few things. The big winners in this are the owners of the assets which is partly the oil majors but even these are far outnumbered by state oil companies. Those profits aren’t from being able to access the wholesale market. They are from owning assets that have happened to go up in price. Those same assets weren’t looking so good a couple of years ago when oil prices went negative. This all applies to crude oil and crude oil products. Gas prices have rocketed because of European dependence on Russian supplies and this has consequences in the electricity market. I guess the point I am making though is that anybody who stocked up on anything pre this year either had a natural long position and took a speculative view not to sell forward or simply took a speculative view to be long. I just think the whole retail system is inherently unstable as small suppliers are incentivized to take too much risk. It would be much better to have one state owned energy company with a big enough book to hedge the nation’s energy needs effectively. Basically like we used to have pre privatization.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-62339183.amp

‘Hinkley B: UK's most productive nuclear power plant closes’

This won’t help either. Prices will go higher as will use of fossil fuels.

 

[KZNSeagull]

The markets big players EDF, SHELL etc. only the small players went bust as they could only buy very small amounts of energy at a time to resell.

EDF just made a record 6 month loss: 5.3bn Euros.

 

[Brian Potter]

Unless the government bring in emergency regulations to protect the energy companies.................wouldn't put it past 'em!

As it stands, energy suppliers are not allowed to leave a residential property without access to power. They can go to court to get a warrant to enter and install a pre-pay. That will then be programmed to reclaim the debt in increments leaving already struggling people to choose between food or heating. Commercial premises on the other hand can be disconnected.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Sadly with the increases in standing charges, you'll only be able to do so much

Standing charges are an absolute con - it's THEIR infrastructure that they use to deliver THEIR product. They should maintain it within the price of the product.

I don't pay a standing charge for any of the supermarkets to have manned tills - it's included in the price of the shopping. I've got a number of flats that I'm selling due to my parents dying last year ( they owned them ). Southern Water keep send bills for a standing charge despite nobody living in them - I've just told them to eff off.

 

[cunning fergus]

I'm not overly keen on the amount of tax I pay. Can I stop paying that as well?

To be fair there’s plenty that currently don’t pay for the BBC licence fee due to that institution’s insatiable demands for money off the poor………it looks like this thread is turning into a who you should and shouldn’t boo isn’t it?

 

[Worthingite]

Cancel the DD on 1st. October - Gas and electric cut of 2nd. November. Probably the wrong tome of year for such a protest. The other problem is that so many of us are on combined tariffs - just one payment for Gas and electric. It would be one thing living without gas for a while - alternative heating (althugh expensive) could be used, along with much more warm clothing, but no gas or electricity would be real hardship - no lights, no TV/radio, no internet, no fridge or freezer.

Only, that's illegal. Energy suppliers are not allowed to disconnect residential customers. What they CAN do is force a warrant to have a SMETS2 Smart meter installation, then switch you to a prepayment service, meaning that you have to top up to receive energy. That way, if you choose not to that is counted as a "self disconnection". But that wouldn't happen unless you had not paid over a long amount of time (minimum I think is 3-6 months) or you owe over a certain amount - different companies have different thresholds.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

As it stands, energy suppliers are not allowed to leave a residential property without access to power. They can go to court to get a warrant to enter and install a pre-pay. That will then be programmed to reclaim the debt in increments leaving already struggling people to choose between food or heating. Commercial premises on the other hand can be disconnected.

Not strictly true - if you end up on a pre-payment meter and run out of credit your energy is turned off.

 

[Brian Potter]

Not strictly true - if you end up on a pre-payment meter and run out of credit your energy is turned off.

Hence why I said "access to power". The argument being that if you top up, you can still get gas and/or electric, unlike being totally disconnected. Not saying I agree with the process (I don't), merely that there are differences for residential and commercial.

 

[el punal]

I'm not overly keen on the amount of tax I pay. Can I stop paying that as well?

A certain Mr.Trump might help you with that one.