Has any of ye heard about the Don’t Pay.uk movement where people are pledging to stop paying their energy bills in the UK? Are there any similar movements here in Ireland? I welcome your thoughts on this. 🙂

44 comments

  3. A few people on this sub have asked the same question.

    I think the circumstances are different as pretty much all the energy companies in Ireland are semi-state. It might make far more sense for them to invest whatever windfall comes their way this winter into renewables are further developing our energy security and independence rather than giving households subsidies (although that’s likely to happen this year).

    In the UK, it’s a lot more like literal profiteering.

    Either way, don’t pay your energy bills and you’re likely to not get energy. The government is very unlikely to instantly think “we’ve lost this one” and switch to fully subsidising all public energy costs between now and winter.

  4. From what I heard if you do that in the UK it’s very unlikely you will be cut off. But your credit score will be fuuuuucked.

  7. I’ve seen some of our more left leaning politicians mention it online once or twice. I don’t think it would catch on here but I’d sure as shit get on board if it did.

  9. They wont get cut off but converted to pay in advance , happens pretty much remotely with a smart meter.

  10. The actual advice from experts is to pay but make formal complaints until they drop the price. If they don’t drop the price and close the complaint without you being satisfied then you move forward with complaints to the ombudsman. The ombudsman charge the company for every complaint and only allow for a maximum number of open complaints. If there ate too many open complaints then the fines get heavily increased and may risk the energy company from being allowed to continue to trade.

  12. This movement doesn’t make sense. By not paying your bill you’re hurting your electric provider not bp or shell.

    Providers are left holding the bag here, they buy gas and oil off the market at whatever price bp shell or Saudi aramco set it at. In the uk a lot of providers have been going bust in recent years. The providers aren’t making the insane profits it’s the scum at the giant fossil fuel companies.

  14. Refusing to pay will permanently fuck up your credit and ability to get a mortgage/loan/credit cards it is a really bad idea.. also cancelling your direct debit is cutting you off from the best deal you are going to get especially if you are on a fixed tarrif. Utility companies give zero fucks about cutting off your supply or making you get a pre payment meter (which is the most expensive option) for non payment. Basically it will do serious harm to you but your provider won’t even notice.

  16. My thoughts are “don’t pay whom, exactly?”.

    Should I also not pay my rent because the rental crisis? Or start robbing from Aldi because of inflation?

    Which systems am I allowed to opt in and opt out of?

  17. We’ll find out on Thursday, but it’s reported that the government will freeze prices at current levels (£2k/€2.3k) for the average user and charge it all to the government’s credit card. If so, the movement might fizzle out.

  21. If we tried anything like this, it would be hijacked by far right/far left movements who push all sorts of agendas.

    Loses any type of legitimacy it has.

  22. Yeah I’ve seen Russel brand pushing this on his show apparently if they can get a million people to sign some form they may not increase it. But i just think irish people are so busy working our balls off we can’t unify. I asume people would be afraid of ramifications that may come with it.

  24. People here waffling about credit score as if people who can’t afford their bills give a fuck about their credit score as opposed to choosing heat or food.

  25. Live in the UK – Quite literally the dumbest movement going. Hasn’t really had any kind of momentum, so they don’t have the critical mass to make much difference, they’re not crippling anything but their own credit scores. They’re also targeting the wrong companies and have confused EDF and British Gas with Shell and BP.

  26. Same is happening in Italy, they are burning their energy bills and saying they will not pay for it from now on and there will be chaos.

  29. Don’t forget the new laws where utility companies can take you to court to garnish your wages….. Almost like they saw it coming….

  30. We are a nation of gullible compliant virtue signaling gobshites. There is absolutely no chance that we will collectively do anything about the current situation or any future hardship. We will absorb all pay increases for everything and will continue to quietly struggle while pretending to be “grand”. We deserve everything we get. #fuckyouigotmine

  31. * Can’t pay, won’t pay!
    * Kill bills!
    * The Best Things In Life Are Doubling in Price
    * SOS – Save Our Shivering
    * LEO ye toolbar ya*

    *(*That one’s gratuitous)*

  33. A calculated household usage of electricity and gas should be ‘free’. Paid for through general taxation.
    Use less then get a tax rebate.

    Any usage above that should then be billed, profits going to pay for above and improvements.

    An allowance could be applied for based on need for above average usage, such as medical devices.

    We’re not in the 1800’s, energy is a basic human need, like water and housing.

    All possible with smart meters.

  34. I guess this is devils advocate but I’m interested to see how this works usually screwing with government tax money as a citizen never goes well you need to be a politician to steal from people

  35. Someone who’s good with numbers and accounts should work out what percentage of consumer bills goes above and beyond breaking even, into the territory of generating profits, and publicise this so that we can start a campaign to pay break-even prices but not a cent more until this crisis is over.

    The fact that shareholders (government or not) are getting dividends and managerial staff are getting bonuses during this crisis is *fucking obscene*, and putting a stop to that is something I think the vast majority of the public would get behind fairly quickly.

  39. It will inevitably come here, things will get so bad economically that the people will band together and push back at the small few that are not suffering like the rest of us….ie politicians, who keep giving themselves raises while the country suffers.

  42. People seem to think they are just entitled to energy and that we are all somehow special in the world. Yet you go outside Europe and North America and all of a sudden it’s a totally different story. Energy is not your ‘right’. The world doesn’t bloody owe it to you. It angers me how unbelievably soft and dumb we have become in the west. While the world watches and laughs. They laugh at how naïve we are.

    On the flip side, our leaders decided to pick a fight with Russia and they have responded. Either we give in, and if we do that boy do we have another thing coming with China. If we stand firm, we dry Russian money up and send Putin into a spiralling debt problem. Pretty soon he won’t be able to pay for basic services and funding will be cut across the country. The EU are banking on Europeans holding first through one winter as the Russia have always known how to use weather in a war to their advantage but after that.. the Russian are in major trouble. We’re talking North Korea style isolation. Not even China will be able to help them (China already has a major hiccup coming with a property crash looming).

    We can’t go on thinking that the world simply owes us energy. We have to suck this up. Our forefathers did it on the beaches of Normandy so that you could use your damn head and common sense.. not moan and whine.

  43. This was actually done previously in the UK back in the 80s, and proved to be a highly effective protest. Alot of scaremongering appears to be happening around this happening again as regards to ‘ ruining credit scores’ however, the majority participating in this protest, quite literally cannot afford to pay their bills, or won’t be able to, so it’s more a case of ‘ruining their credit score’ a bit earlier in attempt to stop this from going any further.

  44. Pretty sure if everyone cut off their direct debits or payments with these greedy corporations, they’d probably do a U-turn on the price hikes. They can’t go after everyone.

    Strength in numbers, people.

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