Avro Energy reviews: Give your feedback

Talldave

alanwsg said:

Just had had a phone call from 'Lowri Beck'  asking me for my electric meter reading.
Lowri Beck are also the people installing smart meters for Avro.
Seemed a bit odd as I input the meter readings every month on Avro's site anyway.

When I had a similar call a few years ago, I told them I'd read the meter if they paid me (since they are getting paid to physically read the thing!). That ended the call, and they never visited in person.

wrongplanet

Consumerist said:

Lowri Beck are supposed to visit and read the meters but, in my experience, just phone up and ask you give the readings to them on the phone.

Not had them try that here. They put a green card put through the letterbox saying they'll call back or enter the readings and leave the card out if you don't want to be disturbed, but they never do.

Gerry1

I've found that Lowri Beck often don't even bother to ring the bell because they can knock off early if they just pop the card through the door and scarper.

They were also breaking the law by using a rip-off 0845 number that's banned for customer service use and which costs up to 72p/minute, and they don't include the mandatory Ofcom price warning either.  Absolutely dreadful company.

But we're taking the Avro thread off course !

Consumerist

Gerry1 said:

But we're taking the Avro thread off course !

Lowri Beck are part of the Avro "customer service" experience so their antics are a valid comment about Avro.

wrongplanet

Gerry1 said:

They were also breaking the law by using a rip-off 0845 number that's banned for customer service use...

The number on the card I have here is 0345 and there's a website too: www.myreading.net

[Edit] Just visited that website.

It says "Please login using the job reference which can be found in the top corner of the card or letter posted through your door." There's no such job reference.

Telegraph_Sam

I fear I have lost the thread in following this fascinating saga!  Is one obliged to have a smart meter with Avro or, as seems to be the universal obvious response, can Avro customers opt to have nothing to do with this technology and rely on what one's own two eyes were designed to do? That said I do on rare and always inconvenient occasions have a visit from a man asking to read my various non-smart meters, leaving the usual card if I am out at the time.

Consumerist

Telegraph_Sam said:

Is one obliged to have a smart meter with Avro or, as seems to be the universal obvious response, can Avro customers opt to have nothing to do with this technology and rely on what one's own two eyes were designed to do?

As I understand it, Avro is obliged to OFFER to install smart meters but, as things stand at the moment, customers are not obliged to accept them.

wrongplanet

Consumerist said:

As I understand it, Avro is obliged to OFFER to install smart meters but, as things stand at the moment, customers are not obliged to accept them.

That's my understanding too, although they can install a smart meter with the 'smart' functions turned off. And some suppliers are making the installation of a smart meter obligatory on some deals.

Consumerist

As meters come to the end of their service life or cycle round to zero again, suppliers will install smart meters because new dumb meters just won't be manufactured any more. In the fullness of time, then, it seems we will all have them - like it or not!

oldagetraveller1

My old gas meter which measures volume consumed used in cubic feet seems to be soldiering on nicely and it passed zero some time ago.

I suspect you are correct, though, that the time will come when it is considered past it's service life or fails. Then resistance to a replacement of the "smart" kind will be inevitably futile. In this instance it will probably be a wasted excercise because of the distance between the outside gas meter and still dumb electricity meter or no "smart" leccy meter!

With regards to Avro, I'm still baffled why, in spite of submitting meter readings on the billing date, insist adding on  bit as an estimate. They added 0.7 of a unit to the gas reading this month! Nothing to the leccy.

Imperial College computer model possibly?