Following the British ‘Don’t Pay’ campaign, a similar initiative is calling on citizens to stop paying their energy bills. “We cannot pay. Heating is not a luxury. Usurious profits are theft”, it sounds on the website we don’t pay.be. “If one person can’t pay the bill, they’re in trouble. If tens of thousands can’t do that, the supplier has a problem. It is not up to us citizens to solve that,” explains initiator Peter Terryn.
The campaign calls on citizens to stop paying their electricity bills, and to unite with neighbors and friends, to “jointly prevent meter shutdowns”. The movement, which claims to be independent and politically unaligned, is proposing a package of demands in addition to the pay strike to curb rising energy prices. Ending the war in Ukraine and the Russian sanctions immediately is one of them.
‘We don’t pay’ also demands an immediate price freeze, a ban on profiteering, a crisis tax on the energy sector, a reduction of VAT on gas and electricity to 0 percent and the nationalization of the energy sector. Fossil fuels belong to the planet, not to companies. “We have to decide together democratically about which energy we use and how. Not for profit.”
“We are starting an independent citizens’ movement,” it continues in their pamphlet. “Only if we as citizens resist this madness together will we get through the winter. So solidarity. We prevent people from being left out in the cold and we are campaigning against the energy giants and politics.”
Peter Terryn, one of the initiators behind the campaign, explains that the campaign is because he has lost faith in the government to solve the energy crisis. “A one-off discount of about 700 euros, as is now promised (a European price ceiling could mean a saving of 770 euros per year for an average family, calculated the cabinet of Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten (Groen), ed.) is not sufficient. People are left with much higher bills that they can’t pay,” it sounds.
October 1
Since the launch of the website on Tuesday morning, according to Terryn, several hundred people have already subscribed to the newsletter. “It goes very fast. The campaign has only just started, but just like in the UK we aim to start the payment strike on October 1. The initiators hope to unite people locally in the coming weeks to deal with rising energy prices together. Terryn is also not afraid that the payment strike will push people even deeper into the pit, for example by extra reminder costs on top of the already high invoices. “A lot of people just can’t pay. We are only calling on them to report and unite,” he clarifies.
What happens if you don’t pay your energy bill?
If you cannot (or do not want to) pay your electricity or natural gas bill immediately, you will not be disconnected from the grid immediately. Energy suppliers must follow a procedure laid down by the government for defaulters, in which a payment reminder must be sent. There may be costs associated with this reminder, which must be paid by the customer.
If you still have not paid the reminder after 15 days, the supplier will send a notice of default send. Again, there will be costs associated with this. In the event that after 15 days still no payment has been made (or a payment plan has been drawn up), the energy supplier can cancel the contract.
At that point, the customer receives a cancellation letter with a final settlement, after which a notice period of 45 days starts. What is consumed in that period also has to be paid. If the final settlement is also not paid, the file will be forwarded to a collection agency.
You can conclude a new contract with another supplier up to a week before the end of the notice period. If you don’t, grid operator Fluvius will automatically become your supplier.
Consultation Committee
The Consultation Committee will meet for the first time on Wednesday to discuss the energy crisis. However, we should not expect concrete measures immediately, according to a government source. “If there was a magic solution, we would have decided on it long ago.” The federal government is also looking specifically at Europe. A price ceiling for gas should be decided there, suggested Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open Vld) and Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten (Groen) in unison last weekend, in combination with the decoupling of electricity and gas prices. After all, the record prices for natural gas are boosting electricity prices via the gas-fired power stations.
Yet some are also looking emphatically to the federal government for additional support. The extended social rate for energy was previously extended until the end of this year, but the Gezinsbond is requesting a further expansion of the rate and an extension of the reduced VAT rate on gas and electricity. Industrial bulk users are also demanding measures: if gas prices remain at their current level or rise further, certain companies will inevitably have to stop production.
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