Disabled People Against Cuts: DPAC Sheffield urges people to join #BigPowerOff campaign against energy price rises

Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) Sheffield are asking people around the country to join the Big Power Off on April 1, the day household gas and electric prices are set to rise steeply.

the group wants people to stop using some or all of their gas and electrical appliances for the day by taking steps such as turning the heating down; using a slow cooker rather than an oven; skipping a bath or shower and not using the wasting maching or hair dryer.

In addition, DPAC Sheffield wants people who are not able to stop using power to post selfies displaying the campaign slogan and make #BigPowerOff banners.

Jennifer Jones from DPAC Sheffield said: “We can march, we can protest on the streets and it’s very important that we continue to stand up in as many ways and as often as we can, but sadly new laws mean potentially that we can be shut down. The beauty of the #BigPowerOff is that there’s absolutely nothing that the government or the corporations they work for can do to stop it.

“We acknowledge that some people have no option at the moment to eat cold foods; other campaigns that we are involved in are in solidarity with and because some of us are people in this situation.

"We know that many people absolutely must keep their heating and various equipments on in their homes due to disabilities, and in no way should anyone be made to feel shamed into doing this or that they’re not doing their part if they can’t commit to using less or no gas or electricity.”

The group is asking people to tell them whether the energy price rises will cause them to go without other essentials and how much their bills are increasing by.

DPAC says it wants to help people have their voice heard and can caption videos or publish stories as well as retweeting or reposting those shared using the campaign hashtag #BigPowerOff.

David Hayes of DPAC Sheffield said: “With the rise in living costs millions of people now face the choice between living or dying in order to feed the insatiable greed of the ruling class.

"We won’t get anything done waiting for politicians, ‘celebrities’ or unions to fight back.

"We are the many. We are the real big society. We have the power to tell gas and electricity suppliers to get off their greedy backsides, and stop fleecing us all for our essential gas and electricity supplies.

"You don’t even have to go outside. You can protest from home. We want to show power suppliers that we the people have the potential power to turn off the profits that make them and their shareholders obscenely wealthy whilst millions of people across the UK can’t even afford to cook our teas.”

Households face another steep rise in energy costs in October and DPAC Sheffield says that April 1 will be the first of many rolling household protests.