Across the UK today, 1st October, the Don’t Pay campaign’s Day of Action is taking place, to coincide with the day energy prices start their considerable rise. People are joining rallies and community events to raise awareness of the campaign and to to demand an end to this cost of greed crisis. Some events will join the Enough is Enough actions that are also happening. More about the campaign below…
The Don’t Pay campaign are a grassroots movement against the rise in energy bills and are demanding a fair price for energy for everyone.
- We demand a reduction in energy bills to an affordable level.
- We will withhold payment together if we are ignored.
- We will take this action when we reach 1 million pledges to strike.
What we’re striking for
1. Reverse the energy price cap to its pre-April 2021 level
The energy price cap at 2021 levels was unaffordable for millions already, but this demand is to respond to the immediate emergency. We have demands to bring prices down further and on a sustainable basis.
2. End all enforcement of pre-payment meters Pre-payment meters mean the poorest in society pay the most for their energy and are automatically cut off if they cannot afford it. This simply cannot continue and these devices and the higher tariff paid by the poorest must be abolished. For those who want to keep pre-payment meters for budgeting reasons, these remaining meters should be on the cheapest not the most expensive tariff.
3. No-one cold this winter
An emergency social energy tariff is essential to prevent people dying from cold this winter. It shouldn’t cost the same price to heat up a tin of beans as it does to heat up your swimming pool.
Emergency price banding for energy this winter will mean ordinary working class people will pay less per unit for their energy. Similar to the tax system, the richer you are the more you pay.
We also demand that cheaper energy bands are implemented for community assets like pubs, religious buildings, schools and community centres. We cannot allow the energy crisis to tear out the heart of our communities this winter.
How will this be paid for?
This crisis is a profit-price spiral caused by wholesale gas and oil producers. There should be no more public subsidies for profiteering. Gas and oil companies should pay for this crisis in its entirety via their record profits.
How do we achieve a permanent solution to the energy crisis? A ‘Fair Price for Power’
These demands are to respond to the emergency we are in. However, we need a permanent solution.
The previous price cap was already unaffordable for many, for example, so we need to transform the energy sector to permanently make energy affordable.
We know there’s massive support for a radically transformed energy market that works for people, not profit. We know that millions of us can’t afford our energy bills and together we can build the strike to one million – and we can win this.
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 doesn’t step in to make sure no one goes cold or hungry this winter.
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 stop our payments, it will be enough to put energy companies in serious trouble. We want to bring them to the table and force them to end this crisis.
For more information about the campaign, see their website here