Avro Energy reviews: Give your feedback

youravinalarrrf

To avoid any estimated readings being used there is only one correct date for you to submit your meter readings. If your contract began on the 4th for example the 4th of each month is when your meter readings should be entered online. The email they send out suggesting there is a three day window to submit your readings is both incorrect and very misleading.

Check your contract live date or if you have received an Avro bill check the date on that.

onlyfoolsandparking

You say Avro want your readings on the 13th, is there any reason for you not submitting on the 13th? or am I still not getting it lol 

2010

If you log in to your account it says the following (in my case)

Submit your meter readings by the

29th February 2020

and these readings will be included on your monthly bill

wrongplanet

onlyfoolsandparking said:

You say Avro want your readings on the 13th, is there any reason for you not submitting on the 13th? or am I still not getting it lol 

The reminder email is being sent out on the 10th for me these days, although in the past it has been 11th, 12th or on one occasion as late as the 15th. It says "To avoid estimated billing we are asking if you could read your meter and send us the readings within the next three days." so I do. If it's on the 13th they use it, if not they estimate the consumption for the intervening days.

brewerdave

wrongplanet said:

onlyfoolsandparking said:

You say Avro want your readings on the 13th, is there any reason for you not submitting on the 13th? or am I still not getting it lol 

The reminder email is being sent out on the 10th for me these days, although in the past it has been 11th, 12th or on one occasion as late as the 15th. It says "To avoid estimated billing we are asking if you could read your meter and send us the readings within the next three days." so I do. If it's on the 13th they use it, if not they estimate the consumption for the intervening days.

And if you send your reading in after the due date, the estimate could be anything as they obviously extrapolate from historical data.

BooJewels

onlyfoolsandparking said:

BooJewels said:

katies_mum said:

I have just moved to Avro and have read your comments about estimated bills / meter readings.  Am I right in thinking that you need to submit your reading on your `billing date` so bills are issued correctly and if you submit readings even a day before this they will be estimated?   many thanks

There seems to be some variation in how they manage this phenomenon - in my case, which is a little unusual, I think they've not got it quite right - but my readings are submitted at more random dates than most would do, as I'm 50 miles from the property in question and take readings as and when I can - more for my own benefit, to track fuel use, than theirs.

Hence I might have to join in with their game and get a reading as close to the billing date as possible, extrapolate it forwards myself knowing what the usage usually is and submit those on the right day - see if it irons out some of the wrinkles.

Sounds like a good idea to me, if its not too much trouble for you keep us informed how you get on with your plan, I for one am interested in it especially as I'm a new customer with Avro.

I will do, but it'll be 19th March before my next reading date.  

I did just write down all the numbers in strict chronological order - noting if it was my own, an estimate etc.  I can't see a pattern just now, as unfortunately, the numbers are all very similar, in that the gas and electric readings are in the same ballpark and there's a strange prevalence of 4s, 3s and 2s - which is making it hard for me to spot trends visually - and it bounces back and forth a bit (after I had a few high electric readings with that faulty pump I mentioned a few pages back).  But looking at their last pair of estimates a few days ago, they were higher than my sister's readings on Sunday, so just subtracting those gave me the difference between their estimates and my readings (63 quid-ish) and it's within 10 quid of the difference I'd worked out from the total fuel used versus what's been paid - over 15 months - which I think is easily explained by the margin of error of a few days difference when the tariff changed and the difference between the dates of the estimates and my reading.  I'm happy that it adds plausibility to my earlier reckoning.

So the difference between my estimated account balance and theirs is just over £50, so hopefully might be ironed out if I can submit an accurately extrapolated reading on just the right day - it'll get taken on the nearest Sunday and I'll add the right amount and submit just after midnight on Wednesday (so early on the 19th).  I'll comment back how it works out.

I've never had this erroneous timing issue with other utility suppliers.  I just don't think their system is sophisticated enough for such subtleties.

frankie

Reminds me of how Flow Energy used to try and handle their readings. Unless you hit it spot on there was always a certain amount of estimation involved. I did live with it until they became less competitive. I am mid switch to Avro, so I will see how it goes then decide if the amount of inconvenience outways their competitive pricing. No exit fees anyway.

Biggus_Dickus

Spuggy69 said:

Good prices and average customer service but widespread and disgraceful blocking tactics when you try to switch away from them. Note: they can only block for debt (not debit balances) under the supplier code

Interesting;  ...can you supply more detail about these ‘tactics’ please.

Does ‘debit balance’ become ‘debt’ if you cancel your D/D before they’ve had a chance to recover any outstanding ‘debit balance’?

youravinalarrrf

Biggus_Dickus said:

Spuggy69 said:

Good prices and average customer service but widespread and disgraceful blocking tactics when you try to switch away from them. Note: they can only block for debt (not debit balances) under the supplier code

Interesting;  ...can you supply more detail about these ‘tactics’ please.

Does ‘debit balance’ become ‘debt’ if you cancel your D/D before they’ve had a chance to recover any outstanding ‘debit balance’?

I think there are many examples of switches being unfairly blocked by Avro if you read back through the earlier pages of this thread. In reality a debit balance can be a normal thing for some customers during the winter months when usage can exceed the monthly direct debit payment but any attempt to switch supplier if you have a debit balance will automatically be blocked by Avro and a switch will only be allowed to proceed after you have made a card payment to Avro to put your account back in credit hence your scenario of cancelling you direct debit before Avro have had chance to recover any outstanding debit balance will never arise. Currently Avro wrongly make no distinction between a debit balance and a debt and treat both as being a debt.

Unfortunately we are saddled with an Ombudsman who is basically toothless and Ofgem the regulator who will not listen to, believe or deal directly with consumers and has little interest in strictly enforcing the terms of the Operator's Licences they issue to suppliers until it's too late for their involvement to be of any use i.e. the supplier's already gone bust.

Biggus_Dickus

youravinalarrrf said:

Biggus_Dickus said:

Spuggy69 said:

Good prices and average customer service but widespread and disgraceful blocking tactics when you try to switch away from them. Note: they can only block for debt (not debit balances) under the supplier code

Interesting;  ...can you supply more detail about these ‘tactics’ please.

Does ‘debit balance’ become ‘debt’ if you cancel your D/D before they’ve had a chance to recover any outstanding ‘debit balance’?

I think there are many examples of switches being unfairly blocked by Avro if you read back through the earlier pages of this thread. In reality a debit balance can be a normal thing for some customers during the winter months when usage can exceed the monthly direct debit payment but any attempt to switch supplier if you have a debit balance will automatically be blocked by Avro and a switch will only be allowed to proceed after you have made a card payment to Avro to put your account back in credit hence your scenario of cancelling you direct debit before Avro have had chance to recover any outstanding debit balance will never arise. Currently Avro wrongly make no distinction between a debit balance and a debt and treat both as being a debt.

Unfortunately we are saddled with an Ombudsman who is basically toothless and Ofgem the regulator who will not listen to, believe or deal directly with consumers and has little interest in strictly enforcing the terms of the Operator's Licences they issue to suppliers until it's too late for their involvement to be of any use i.e. the supplier's already gone bust.

youravinalarrrf said:

Biggus_Dickus said:

Spuggy69 said:

Good prices and average customer service but widespread and disgraceful blocking tactics when you try to switch away from them. Note: they can only block for debt (not debit balances) under the supplier code

Interesting;  ...can you supply more detail about these ‘tactics’ please.

Does ‘debit balance’ become ‘debt’ if you cancel your D/D before they’ve had a chance to recover any outstanding ‘debit balance’?

I think there are many examples of switches being unfairly blocked by Avro if you read back through the earlier pages of this thread. In reality a debit balance can be a normal thing for some customers during the winter months when usage can exceed the monthly direct debit payment but any attempt to switch supplier if you have a debit balance will automatically be blocked by Avro and a switch will only be allowed to proceed after you have made a card payment to Avro to put your account back in credit hence your scenario of cancelling you direct debit before Avro have had chance to recover any outstanding debit balance will never arise. Currently Avro wrongly make no distinction between a debit balance and a debt and treat both as being a debt.

Unfortunately we are saddled with an Ombudsman who is basically toothless and Ofgem the regulator who will not listen to, believe or deal directly with consumers and has little interest in strictly enforcing the terms of the Operator's Licences they issue to suppliers until it's too late for their involvement to be of any use i.e. the supplier's already gone bust.

Thanks for the info,...I wasn’t aware that Avro did that;...it seems a little unfair that they’d block a switch if, for example, you join them in November and want to leave in March . Most people would have a substantial debit at that point.

Do Avro automatically block a switch until the debit has been cleared by card payment?,...or will they only block a switch if the debit is, say, more than the monthly D/D ?

I can kind of understand Energy companies wanting payment up front if the debit is large,...but for small’ish amounts it seems a bit punitive if they automatically block switches on that basis.

Then again, Energy companies have a duty of care to their customers (especially their vulnerable customers) and they shouldn’t allow customers to build up excessive debt in the first place;... however, many energy companies are derelict in that respect.

edit: I appear to have quoted your post twice,...not sure how.