United Kingdom: a revolution begins, 75,000 people will no longer pay their bills
Resistance is growing: More than 75,000 furious people in the UK have pledged not to pay their electricity bills in the autumn, when prices will rise again to adapt to international markets.
“ 75,000 people pledged to go on strike on October 1st! If the government and energy companies refuse to act, ordinary people will! Together we can impose a fair price and affordable energy , "tweeted" Don't Pay UK ", an anonymous group that is leading the effort to get more than a million Britons to boycott their electricity bills by on October 1st. It must be said that, with the prices that energy will soon reach, it is a very simple protest.
75,000 people have pledged to strike on October 1st!
If the government & energy companies refuse to act then ordinary people will!
Together we can enforce a fair price and affordable energy for all. https://t.co/RYOlAVoLqd #dontpayuk pic.twitter.com/HeF4RiOVVH
– Don't Pay. (@dontpayuk) August 5, 2022
The strike comes as an inflationary storm of high energy prices wiped out household incomes. The British are the most unhappy in the last thirty years, as inflation is projected to reach 13%. And while Bank of England (BoE) Governor Andrew Bailey has raised interest rates like never in 27 years to contain inflation, the risk of a recession grows, regardless of the fact that rising interest rates won't it produces gas and does not lower bills.
On 1 October, the average household will pay nearly £ 300 a month for electricity, the BoE warned. If you add the rise in electricity costs to the negative growth in real wages, it is clear that households are under severe pressure. Excluding the soaring prices for housing, food and gasoline at the pump, this trend is unsustainable and could lead to social instability.
British news agency Glasgow Live said the strike is similar to "actions in the late 1980s and 1990s to combat the poll tax introduced by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher". In protest, 17 million people refused to pay ”.
British financial journalist and broadcaster Martin Lewis commented on the strike:
“I think I can classify it more accurately now, the big movement I am seeing is an increase in the growth of people demanding non-payment of energy bills, non-mass payment. In practice, a consumer strike on energy bills and the elimination of the legitimacy of their payment.
"We are nearing a time for a Poll Tax on energy bills in October and we need the government to take care of it, because once it starts to become socially acceptable not to pay energy bills, people will stop paying them and you won't be able to cut them. everybody out".
Meanwhile, the managing director of Ofgem (the British energy regulator) Jonathan Brearley said on Saturday on BBC Radio 4's Today broadcast that citizens should not join the strike for two reasons.
“ First of all, it will increase costs for everyone. Secondly, if you are having trouble paying your bill, the best thing to do is contact your energy company ”.
And he added: " I would not encourage anyone not to pay the bill, because this does nothing but further damage the situation, with a personal impact ".
Last week the British government criticized the movement, calling it "highly irresponsible".
" This is a highly irresponsible message, which will ultimately only drive prices up for everyone else and affect personal credit ratings ," a government spokesman quoted by The Independent said.
Don't Pay UK estimates that 6.3 million British households will be pushed into electricity bill poverty this winter, while millions more will feel the stress of runaway inflation.
On Twitter, citizens reacted by saying that "the revolution has begun" and that "a bit of civil unrest is coming to our streets and rightly so".
I smell a bit of civil unrest on its way onto our streets & rightly so
– Rasul Abdul-Aziz (@ Rasul62011141) August 6, 2022
Perhaps the movement's involvement will be an excellent proxy for the growing discontent among the British that could lead to civil unrest this winter as millions of people struggle to keep the lights on, the oven warm and put food on the table. The current situation does nothing but sanction the epochal failure of the ruling classes of the last 30 years who have given the market, or rather to a handful of oligopolists, the energy sector, with no interest in diversification, safety, or cost. for the citizens. The results are scarcity and poverty, but the politicians who decided it are always there.
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The article United Kingdom: a revolution starts, 75 thousand people will no longer pay their bills comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/regno-unito-parte-una-rivoluzione-75-mila-persone-non-pagheranno-piu-le-bollette/ on Sun, 07 Aug 2022 18:47:16 +0000.