A civil movement promoting not to pay energy bills from Oct. 1 across the UK has gathered more than 170,000 signatures on its online platform as of Tuesday afternoon.

The movement that demands “a reduction in energy bills to an affordable level” from the British government asks for people who would join them to sign an online support page.

Appearing on www.dontpay.uk web address, the movement has so far gathered signatures from more than 173,000 people nationwide.

The group says they would cancel automated bank payments of the energy bills if the number of those supporting them reaches 1 million.

The grassroots movement urges the government for an “emergency social energy tariff to prevent people dying from cold this winter.”

“It shouldn't cost the same price to heat up a tin of beans as it does to heat up your swimming pool,” it says on its webpage.

It says: “Emergency price banding for energy this winter will mean ordinary working class people will pay less per unit for their energy. Similar to the tax system, the richer you are the more you pay.”

“We also demand that cheaper energy bands are implemented for community assets like pubs, religious buildings, schools and community centers. We cannot allow the energy crisis to tear out the heart of our communities this winter.”

The movement has appeared shortly after the energy watchdog Ofgem announced that the caps on energy bills in the UK has gone up by 80%, taking up the average household expense on energy bills to £3,549 ($3,993) a year.

The Don’t Pay movement also says the previous price cap was “already unaffordable for many, for example, so we need to transform the energy sector to permanently make energy affordable.”

“To address this, a process within the Don't Pay movement called ‘Fair price for power’ will begin this autumn, during which the movement will decide together in local groups what a fair price to pay for our energy is and how we can achieve and enforce that price by transforming the energy sector.”

Prime Minister Liz Truss, who replaced Boris Johsnon on Tuesday, is expected to reveal her government’s policy about helping the constraint on households and businesses in the coming days. (Anadolu Agency)

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