Enough is enough: this winter I will be refusing to pay my energy bills

theguardian.com:

I’ve never been involved in any sort of civil disobedience before. I’ve always been quite a good boy – I’m not the kind to glue myself to the M25. But I’ve come to realise that it is only by collective action that we can persuade the government and the energy companies to make some very drastic changes. That’s why I’ve joined the Don’t Pay campaign. On 1 October, when the next price cap comes into effect, I will be phoning EDF and telling them that, out of solidarity with millions of others, I will not be paying any more until they reduce their prices.

Before the price cap rise on 1 April, I was already concerned that I might not be able to afford any dramatic price increases. I’m a chronically ill, and therefore disabled, pensioner. I was managing to pay £106 a month for dual fuel. Then it increased to about £170 – this is pretty high for me, but I can just about afford it. Now we’re hearing that there’s likely to be an increase of 60% to 70% in the price cap this winter. Well, I’m afraid I won’t be able to pay that. I will find it unaffordable. And there will be millions of others like me.

Keep in mind that I live on my own. During the winter, I don’t have any heating downstairs at all; I only use a radiator in my bedroom (because of my health condition I need to spend a lot of time lying down) and a heated towel rail in the bathroom. But I will still be in fuel poverty: I’ve calculated that I will be paying more than 10% of the money I have coming in on energy costs. I read that, from October, one in three households are likely to be in fuel poverty. That’s what’s behind the Don’t Pay campaign – it’s just a community of ordinary people who have been pushed into an intolerable situation.

There may be critics who say