Avro Energy reviews: Give your feedback

Consumerist

2010 said:

Didn`t Avro get into trouble from Ofgem for refusing to offer smart meters.
I think at one point they were barred from taking on new customers until they did so.

Yep. That was Avro.
Well done Avro, I say, for embarrassing Ofgem into the realisation of their failure to understand the situation. The norm for Ofgem.

Consumerist

Telegraph_Sam said:

Why did they Ofgem pick on Avro when the majority (??) of suppliers don't insist on smarties with their dodgy reputation?

Perhaps, because Avro was too cheap which gave the big boys a headache. The answer was to kick a hole in their profits.

Avro is still very competitive despite Ofgem's attempt to sink them for the big boys.

I think that's the royal two-finger salute from Avro to a  thoroughly deserving Ofgem.

Gerry1

polymaff said:

I was amused to follow up Avro's link to Smart Meters at the bottom of:

https://avroenergy.co.uk/energy-saving

Oops!

Obviously they're referring to the smart meter's abilities for load limiting and load shedding ! 

Yes, it's a pretty shambolic page.  Few people would find their hot tank up in the loft, and it's not a good idea to recommend compact fluorescent lamps containing mercury that use twice the energy of their modern LED equivalents.

But Avro's biggest clanger is about reading dial meters.

They say they don't know why some hands move clockwise and others anticlockwise (clue: look at the cogwheels behind them) and then they show a fuzzy, wonky meter (with some numbers upside down) - and get the reading wrong by 1,000kWh ! 

Gerry1

Telegraph_Sam said:

Why did they Ofgem pick on Avro when the majority (??) of suppliers don't insist on smarties with their dodgy reputation?

Bullies usually prefer smaller victims.

Biggus_Dickus

Smodlet said:

I'm sorry but I actually derive satisfaction from reading my meters myself.  If you do it regularly, you can notice aberrations quickly and question your usage/your meter(s)' efficacy.  I like working out my usage and how much it cost because it makes me feel in control.

I really don't understand the impulse to abdicate this in favour of apps; they give me the willies, not that I have the gadgetry to acquire them anyway but would not for all the tea in China... Or anything else that comes from there.

If you have smart meters they can be set-up to report their readings back to HQ every day if you wish and the daily readings can be monitored on-line just about real-time.

That’s how my Br.Gas smart-meters used to work before they were struck dumb and I was rather hoping that Avro would give me some shiny new ones. However, that seems to be a forlorn hope at the moment.

My ‘dumb’ meters are outside and if new smart-meters mean I don’t have to go out in the wind/rain with me’ little torch then bring em’ on.   

 

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brewerdave

2010 said:

Didn`t Avro get into trouble from Ofgem for refusing to offer smart meters.
I think at one point they were barred from taking on new customers until they did so.

I believe it wasn't directly about offering smart meters ,but their tardiness in becoming a registered user of the D.C.C who are responsible for the collection and distribution of smart meter data. There are still quite a number of smaller suppliers who are still not offering smarts.

Consumerist

Biggus_Dickus said:

. . . My ‘dumb’ meters are outside and if new smart-meters mean I don’t have to go out in the wind/rain with me’ little torch then bring em’ on.

That's about the only advantage to smart meters, in my view.

Many have found them to be more trouble than they are worth due to a combination of faulty meters and/or faulty suppliers. I'm not even sure this mythological DCC is even working properly yet.

Recent advertising has now given up on selling us the idea that they will save us, the consumer, money on our energy bills but will, supposedly, enable the energy industry with its forward planning for energy supplies - code for assisting them to manipulate energy bills for their own advantage while the consumer foots the enormous bill for their installation.

Pinner_Boy

A positive Avro customer here.  My switch to them, from Igloo, went smoothly, no need to speak to anyone.

I have a SMETS2 electric meter installed when I was with SSE.  That wasn't disturbed by Igloo, it still displayed the SSE tariff and SSE as the supplier.  Moving to Avro it was updated to the correct tariff and supplier but I don't see any sign of Avro automatically getting the readings from the DCC.  A slight imperfection but nothing I'm too bothered about.

All in all, quite happy.

Smodlet

Consumerist said:

Biggus_Dickus said:

. . . My ‘dumb’ meters are outside and if new smart-meters mean I don’t have to go out in the wind/rain with me’ little torch then bring em’ on.

That's about the only advantage to smart meters, in my view.

Many have found them to be more trouble than they are worth due to a combination of faulty meters and/or faulty suppliers. I'm not even sure this mythological DCC is even working properly yet.

Recent advertising has now given up on selling us the idea that they will save us, the consumer, money on our energy bills but will, supposedly, enable the energy industry with its forward planning for energy supplies - code for assisting them to manipulate energy bills for their own advantage while the consumer foots the enormous bill for their installation.

This, with a thousand, million bells on.  

Biggus Dickus (how is your username not !!!!-ed?) is there no way your meters could be moved indoors for free?  I believe E.on used to do this.  Otherwise, think of the brollies you could buy with what you save not buying into all this dumb-as-rocks, "smart" meter BS.

Biggus_Dickus

Smodlet said:

Consumerist said:

Biggus_Dickus said:

. . . My ‘dumb’ meters are outside and if new smart-meters mean I don’t have to go out in the wind/rain with me’ little torch then bring em’ on.

That's about the only advantage to smart meters, in my view.

Many have found them to be more trouble than they are worth due to a combination of faulty meters and/or faulty suppliers. I'm not even sure this mythological DCC is even working properly yet.

Recent advertising has now given up on selling us the idea that they will save us, the consumer, money on our energy bills but will, supposedly, enable the energy industry with its forward planning for energy supplies - code for assisting them to manipulate energy bills for their own advantage while the consumer foots the enormous bill for their installation.

This, with a thousand, million bells on.  

Biggus Dickus (how is your username not !!!!-ed?) is there no way your meters could be moved indoors for free?  I believe E.on used to do this.  Otherwise, think of the brollies you could buy with what you save not buying into all this dumb-as-rocks, "smart" meter BS.

I really don’t understand why such animosity is aimed at smart-meters;

...if you actually saw one I reckon you’d quickly change your mind,...they’ve got loads of different coloured flashing LED’s and everything. They’re totes amazeballs!

P.S. what’s wrong with my username, btw?