Élodie Goulesque (correspondent in London), edited by Gauthier Delomez 6:57 p.m., August 9, 2022

Faced with soaring electricity prices, due to inflation and the various episodes of drought that the country is experiencing this summer, Britons have come together in the "Don't pay" collective to demand that the bill be paid by big companies.

An initiative that divides taxpayers.

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They are already more than 90,000 Britons to have signed up to participate in the "Don't pay" campaign.

In the United Kingdom, a citizens' movement calls for no longer paying particularly high electricity bills, due to drought episodes and galloping inflation.

This collective hopes to bring together a million people refusing together and simultaneously to pay their bills to the British State.

The website of this collective proposes to stop automatic debits of energy bills from October 1st.

A risky initiative according to some associations

The hope of this movement of civil disobedience is to make the big companies in the sector pay.

An idea that divides the British.

"I have already stopped direct debits because I don't have enough money. It's not a bad idea and people should do it", assures one of them at the microphone of Europe 1. Another tempers: "It doesn't have to be that simple. If you don't pay your bills, you will have a bad credit report. So, I support the idea, but I will not commit now".

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"We're thinking about it, but you need enough people to create real collective action," continues another passerby, "otherwise you end up with warning letters."

The collective asks companies in the energy sector to lower their prices to a reasonable level.

This initiative is risky, according to some British consumer associations.

Indeed, people could find themselves deprived of gas or electricity.

However, "Don't pay", which remains rather vague on the origins of the movement, ensure that its action will be effective if at least 100,000 people engage in it.