Energy bills - don't pay

If only people haf voted Labour who wanted to renationalise the energy companies at the last 2 elections, and water and rail. Pity people were more interested in keeping out Jonny Foreigner and cutting ties with our closest trading block. Still we got control of our borders back. 🤣🤣
You talked sense until you dragged Brexit into it. The cost of energy is nothing to do with cutting our ties with the EU. The price of fuel is a world wide issue.

And for the record, I voted remain.
 
You won't lose it if your provider goes bust, its protected.
Yep!

I took a fix out recently as it's ÂŁ278/month, used to pay ÂŁ55 a month so that is grim, we are in credit now but come winter we will be using more and for those on svr price cap goes up October and Jan so by getting a refund back now you're just creating larger bills later on unless you're fixed and know your usage very well so can budget better
 
I might be wrong because I've not read up fully but the Don't Pay thing is only supposed to be for one month. It's not a long enough period for them to cut your supply, instigate debt recovery etc. It's more Delayed Pay rather than Don't Pay. The idea being simply to send a message. I don't think single missed payments end up on your credit file although I might be wrong there as well.
 
I might be wrong because I've not read up fully but the Don't Pay thing is only supposed to be for one month. It's not a long enough period for them to cut your supply, instigate debt recovery etc. It's more Delayed Pay rather than Don't Pay. The idea being simply to send a message. I don't think single missed payments end up on your credit file although I might be wrong there as well.
Gas and elec is a credit agreement so you'll still have a missed payment on your credit file regardless. Single payments definitely get reported, every payment made to a credit account will do.
 
You talked sense until you dragged Brexit into it. The cost of energy is nothing to do with cutting our ties with the EU. The price of fuel is a world wide issue.

And for the record, I voted remain.
I never said the cost of energy was directly due to Brexit. My point was the main reasons we have a Tory government and therefore no national ownership of our utilities is because of Brexit, the last election was dubbed the Brexit election remember. There was an alternative, If people had thought about what was really in their best interests, we could have national ownership of the utilities and some other key public services again and no hard Brexit.
 
Gas and elec is a credit agreement so you'll still have a missed payment on your credit file regardless. Single payments definitely get reported, every payment made to a credit account will do.
What about if you are already in credit? I'd imagine most people's balances would be at their healthiest in October.
 
What about if you are already in credit? I'd imagine most people's balances would be at their healthiest in October.
If your account is in credit you haven't missed a payment but you're also not really sticking it to the man by not topping up your balance that month.
 
If people think that not paying (for something they've used), then raising a complaint is the answer then you're in for a shock. It's like me whinging about the cost of the iPhone I bought two years ago, and demanding a partial refund. If people think the ÂŁ500 cost to energy suppliers for going to ombundsman will make the end user better off then they're going to be in for another shock. All they will do is put that cost in the bills, likely into the standing charge. All this will do is inflate the prices to anyone using electricity and gas, or buying things which use electric and gas (which is everything). Then all that will happen is you will get taken to court for what you've used under contract.

It's not the suppliers making most of the money, it's the producers, and then also the government in tax etc.

Just because your contract is with the energy suppliers, does not mean that you going after them will do any good.

Now, there is a thought that if you go after the suppliers, then they will put pressure on the producers, but they won't, largely as they can't as it's an open market.

Assuming we can't increase supply, the only way to get cost down (across the board) is to make demand less, now you can do this by using energy and then not paying, as you will get cut off, and then there will be less people using energy. It won't benefit those who don't pay though, as they won't get connected again until they do pay, and will get chased for what is outstanding. Then you will get a worse credit rating and end up paying higher rates on mortgage, car loans etc.

The basic semi-solution is to just use less, as in have the heating lower, shower on for shorter time, use energy saving products etc. The people won't do this though, as it's a collective action. You will still get the selfish/ ignorant/ rich folk running their heating set on 25 degrees, with the windows open and having two baths a day, full to the brim. They probably don't even notice the energy bill, so won't give a toss.

Rather than going after energy suppliers, you should be aiming the fight at the energy producers or at getting more government support for those who need it most (which may be yourself), and remember things like this when it comes to the next election. Only the government have the power to do something which would significantly help those who need it most. But, pay attention as all you're going to see happen is them apply help across the board which will always massively favour those who need it least, and not give enough to those who need it most.
 
If people think that not paying (for something they've used), then raising a complaint is the answer then you're in for a shock. It's like me whinging about the cost of the iPhone I bought two years ago, and demanding a partial refund. If people think the ÂŁ500 cost to energy suppliers for going to ombundsman will make the end user better off then they're going to be in for another shock. All they will do is put that cost in the bills, likely into the standing charge. All this will do is inflate the prices to anyone using electricity and gas, or buying things which use electric and gas (which is everything). Then all that will happen is you will get taken to court for what you've used under contract.

It's not the suppliers making most of the money, it's the producers, and then also the government in tax etc.

Just because your contract is with the energy suppliers, does not mean that you going after them will do any good.

Now, there is a thought that if you go after the suppliers, then they will put pressure on the producers, but they won't, largely as they can't as it's an open market.

Assuming we can't increase supply, the only way to get cost down (across the board) is to make demand less, now you can do this by using energy and then not paying, as you will get cut off, and then there will be less people using energy. It won't benefit those who don't pay though, as they won't get connected again until they do pay, and will get chased for what is outstanding. Then you will get a worse credit rating and end up paying higher rates on mortgage, car loans etc.

The basic semi-solution is to just use less, as in have the heating lower, shower on for shorter time, use energy saving products etc. The people won't do this though, as it's a collective action. You will still get the selfish/ ignorant/ rich folk running their heating set on 25 degrees, with the windows open and having two baths a day, full to the brim. They probably don't even notice the energy bill, so won't give a toss.

Rather than going after energy suppliers, you should be aiming the fight at the energy producers or at getting more government support for those who need it most (which may be yourself), and remember things like this when it comes to the next election. Only the government have the power to do something which would significantly help those who need it most. But, pay attention as all you're going to see happen is them apply help across the board which will always massively favour those who need it least, and not give enough to those who need it most.

There is a longer term possibility (which I'm not even suggesting is remotely likely) which is that by everyone not paying their energy bills then all of the suppliers go bust and the government are forced to nationalise and act as the supplier. We know the suppliers don't make huge profits but they do make profit and there is no need for them. They don't do anything, they are just middlemen, so if we can remove them from the system we are one step closer to the optimal way of running. Even to the point that having a single variable tariff that everyone pays instead of all of the messing about with different companies having different SVRs, fixed offers etc that we all have to sift through to get the best price.

The suppliers have no incentive to drive prices down because they just pass the cost on. The government in that position though doesn't have to pass the full cost on. They could choose not to. They could also change the way the producers pay tax, force them to sell closer to the cost what they produce in the UK instead of us paying wholesale price for the energy/fuel we produce in the UK etc. Much more radical but things that would never happen in the current system.
 
Most energy suppliers make a loss

Most energy producers with a supply arm make a loss on supply, or fairly small profits . Seeing centrica profits soar for example isn't because they're making a killing at British Gas supply, it's because they are a diverse conglomerate involved in generating as well.

Who had a cartel? I've had low bills for years all available on the open market. Consumer laziness and lack of awareness meant many were sat on SVR's but tariffs were there regardless and many sites like MSE compare the market etc made good money on people switching regularly

The bill went up because bulb and about 20 other suppliers went broke and the taking on of those customers / running bulb is expensive
You must have been using better comparison sites than me then. I've played along with the charade for years and not once have I been able to swap to a deal cheaper than the one I was one. It went up every year. The sites tell you that you will 'save x pounds' if you don't sign up to a tariff as compared to the SVR. It was always b***ks.
 
How will energy companies the majority of which are based overseas go “bust” then.

I don’t think people realise just how massive some of these big companies really are.
 
I agree something needs to be done but I’m not sure simply refusing to pay us the answer. Much better in my view to contact the energy company and ask to be put on a payment plan, confirming the maximum monthly payment will be what you were paying previously. The energy companies would have to take some action then and you haven’t broken any legal agreement.
 
How will energy companies the majority of which are based overseas go “bust” then.

I don’t think people realise just how massive some of these big companies really are.

If they won't go bust the Gov should just bang a cap on in October preventing no more rises.
 
You must have been using better comparison sites than me then. I've played along with the charade for years and not once have I been able to swap to a deal cheaper than the one I was one. It went up every year. The sites tell you that you will 'save x pounds' if you don't sign up to a tariff as compared to the SVR. It was always b***ks.
You've been doing something very very wrong then because svr is where energy firms make most of their profit, or it was until the price cap and current crisis. If your bill went up every year you were on svr and open market tariffs would have been far cheaper at many points Vs svr

There have been fixes available, switching incentives, variable rate deals etc. it wasn't a case of saving money every year as sometimes costs do go up but if you've had nothing cheaper for years on a switching site you've messed up somewhere
 
I agree something needs to be done but I’m not sure simply refusing to pay us the answer. Much better in my view to contact the energy company and ask to be put on a payment plan, confirming the maximum monthly payment will be what you were paying previously. The energy companies would have to take some action then and you haven’t broken any legal agreement.
Be better if everyone just said come and disconnect us please - an thanks for nothing, now go feck yourselves you greedy bĂ stards
 
What about cancelling the DD and paying what you can afford?
Does that contravene your credit?
Many providers have a non DD tariff which is often about ÂŁ100-120 a year more expensive than paying via dd, if you cancel your dd they'll switch you to it so little to be gained. If you can't afford your bill, ring your supplier and talk about it
 
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