Don't pay in October

Mrcaramelchoc

. The electric companies are gouging us all raising prices to astronomical levels.

I'm nominating the month of October when we stand up to them and don't pay. Enough is enough.

Would it work. Could the Irish people do an Irish water on it? The cretins in the government aren't doing anything. There's a **** surprise I hear you say.

Well then roll on October?

Notmything

I'm in. My next electricity bill is due in November.

In reality what are you expecting? The unpaid balance will just be added to the next bill.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119554324#Comment_119554324

I think he means that we stop paying for good, starting 1st of October until the pirates get their act together

timmyntc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119554324#Comment_119554324

If enough people didnt pay for a short time it could lead to a crisis in these companies - but it likely wouldnt work out in customers favour either.

Also most people have direct debits for bills and wouldnt bother cancelling in the first place. With water charges it was easy, most people didnt sign up to begin with.

EOQRTL

I won't be paying it in full anyway and it's nothing to do with protesting.

cruizer101

Not sure I can see it working tbh, wouldn't get enough people behind it and they will just roll the bill over.

I did see a school governor in UK saying he wasn't going to pay the energy bills next month and could see that working. If a number of schools don't pay are the energy companies going to cut them off coming into winter, suggestions hospitals should do the same.

Commercial energy bills over there have gone crazy.

Boggles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058261371/dont-pay-in-october

Could the Irish people do an Irish water on it?

We always pay for water and still do.

You just want free electricity.

If anyone is struggling they should contact their supplier and organise a payment plan.

Atlantic Dawn

Would it not be better to boycott them one by one, everyone first leave Electric Ireland seeing as it's the one the government own so most able to influence and move to someone else?

Lucy8080

I think most folks would be afraid that not enough others would join in, which would leave them open to bad credit references. Maybe the best way to organise is to collectively challenge the bills with the ombudsman. That way, the money is legally/legitimately with-held from the energy companies whilst the ombudsman office is inundated with claims it must take case-by-case ( to the best of my knowledge). This way ,one avoids bad credit references.

That said, if the majority of folks refused to pay I think a solution would soon materialise.

Notmything

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119554645#Comment_119554645

So use the electricity but just not pay for it? How is that supposed to work?

The price of petrol is too high, hey I'm going to fill my car but not going to pay.

Give someone like Paddy Cosgrave a shout to lead the campaign. Or Paul Murphy.

FintanMcluskey

Ffs, about 99% of people said they were willing to crash the economy to save a few lives during Covid, and the same virtue signallers said they were willing to pay what it took to avoid using Putins resources.

How the **** could anyone not realise this was coming down the tracks???

As of yet I don't think electricity has even doubled from what it was 12 months

brokenangel

Most people are on level pay to get discount

The company have build up a nice little coverage. So in my case I have over 1k sitting in my account with Energia

Not paying just means they will take the money out of it

Need a better plan

What I am struggling with is FiT was announced, yet we are now 6month + and customers getting paid nothing

Are ESB networks saying the increase in price to supply electricity means they will also increase the FiT given to people? from what I have seen thats a no....

I also said it at the time, the 200 euro or whatever it was was a waste of time. We would have been better investing the money into solar panels for peopel

facehugger99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119555617#Comment_119555617

If there's one thing Covid thought us, it's to never underestimate the stupidity of the Irish people.

Allinall

It will be a very dark winter if people don't pay their electric bills.

Flinty997

In case anyone confused. The issue is the energy suppliers are making huge profits while claiming they need to rise prices to cover costs.

They don't. It's price gouging.

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119558029#Comment_119558029

Why weren't they price gouging two years ago, instead of dropping prices?

shalom

And then end up having to pay a reconnection fee? I don't think so. I think behind this is your fear of what may be ahead. My suggestion, a little preparation. Have a small gas stove (if you can find one ) to cook or boil water and a tank of gas. Enough fuel in if you have an open fire. Start looking at what you will be able to do without. (those coffee take away magazines etc), and you will have enough. I do believe there will be a shortage of luxury stuff but we will be able to buy all the other necessities, they will be expensive but we will be able to Yes things are going to get a little shaky, but if you stand your own ground and not look outward at everyone else, it will pass. I do fear for the very poor and elderly. But in my own area, I will be keeping an unobtrusive eye out.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119558036#Comment_119558036

Lack of demand and competition. I wonder why ..

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119558077#Comment_119558077

No different from today. yet two years ago they were dropping prices, and today they are supposedly price gouging.

Something doesn't add up.

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119558029#Comment_119558029

The unit price has massively increased. Ireland doesn't have control over our power generation like we should so we pay for it.

What the companies are doing is increasing with the cost of the unit. What they are also doing is keeping the profit margin the same.

So if you are paying 0.10 cent per unit and ESb have a 10% profit on it then they get 0.01

If the price is going up and now the unit price is 0.20 what ESB are saying is their profit it still the same percentage, but they now get 0.02 per unit

That is my understanding of what is going on

They will also turn around and say the money they have to pay staff etc has increased but we know thats BS

Podge_irl

They may be making record profits, but their profit margin is a fairly tiny proportion of the price increase.

The unit price has massively increased. Ireland doesn't have control over our power generation like we should so we pay for it.

Probably wouldn't matter much if we did. Once you are tied into the international energy markets it stops being about cost of production. Obviously that is a large negative at the moment, but it also brings benefits most of the time. Unprecedented issues such as we are facing today really require pretty strong government intervention - be that with subsidies, price caps or whatever.

Gamergurll

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119558057#Comment_119558057

Little luxuries are what keep life from being completely miserable! ☺️

Things are tight for everyone of course, we are with prepay and it's clocking in at over €40 per week at the moment. It's always been around 25 ish give or take so it has gone up a lot, I don't think I can afford it going any higher. Concerned more for the local elderly same as you, will be checking in on them same as a few of my neighbours, it's going to be a crazy winter to be sure 😔

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119558147#Comment_119558147

It would have to be a price cap per unit....

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119558260#Comment_119558260

Yes, I think that is right - an outright price cap will do nothing to encourage moderation of usage.

Something will have to be done though, even if they do not know quite what form that will take they should be acknowledging that now.

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119558272#Comment_119558272

Mind you we are not the only ones, I seen a country in Europe talking about people working at night to balance the grid

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119557973#Comment_119557973

why?

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119558092#Comment_119558092

Was in the middle of lockdown crisis demand fell off a cliff.

What doesn't add up is why you would want to use market conditions Covid as a comparison to anything else.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119558389#Comment_119558389

There's more going on than just Putins crusade. it may have been the straw that broke the camels back. But there's more to it than that.

People won't look further though.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119555144#Comment_119555144

Driving a car is a choice for many, electricity in the home is a necessity for all

I think the hope would be that the electricity billing companies would drop their prices when they see this form of mass protest

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119555048#Comment_119555048

I like this idea best. One thing I've noticed is they're all set to bring in the hikes form October 1st. Perhaps if customers made this date their switching day it would send a very strong message

Subzero3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119558837#Comment_119558837

Anyone could forsee that it would be impossible to replace cheap energy. So the EU went all in against its biggest supplier.

It has no alternative. None. So what will happen is the EU will cease to exist. Why? Because eventually countries will say this is BS and forge their own strategy.