Avro Energy reviews: Give your feedback

Consumerist

2010 said:

The tariff being offered to existing customers Simple and Supersaving doesn`t seem to be on any comparison sites including CAB.
Simple and superswitcher seems to be the cheapest one showing.

I think suppliers are generally required to report tariffs to Citizens Advice but in the current covid-19 crisis suppliers are being given a little leeway.

victor2

rmtucker said:

No i switched from Scottish Power who were the solr for Yorkshire energy.

I have had the final bill from SP and paid it and they have closed the account.

And the same closing readings were given to avro as opening readings.

At no point in this are avro dealing with any administrator.

Yes you are probably right just have to wait and then jump away if i still feel let down.

An "independent third party" has to validate opening/closing readings whenever a switch takes place. IME they generally screw up perfectly valid and agreeable readings, but both parties are supposed to use the readings they decide upon. When I switched an account away from BG, who had installed smart meters, the validated readings were different to the smart meter readings BG had obtained. BG used the smart meter readings and the new supplier (Avro) used the validated readings given. The meters were duimb by then. That took a bit of sorting out.

When the same account switched away from Avro, the validated gas readings were so far away from the actual ones provided, that both the winning and losing supplier said they would not use them. They told me they had agreed to use the readings I had provided (backed up by photographs), but Avro went ahead and used an estimate higher than the actual. That took a bit of sorting out too!

[Deleted User]

Consumerist said:

I don't quite see what all the fuss is about.

When the reading(s) validate then you'll get an updated statement. As long as the closing and opening reads match then you won't be charged twice for the same usage. If you pay by direct debit then it won't make a jot of difference to what you pay.

From my perspective the people who seem to be dragging their heels in some switches (mine included) are the organisations in charge of validating an opening read and passing them on in a reasonably timely fashion to both old and new supplier.  I don't mind what the DC (data collector used by Avro for validation) says my opening read is - I'd prefer that they used the actual read that I provided (with photograph of the meter supplied to Avro) but if the DC calculated I have used too much/too little compared to historical figures then fine give a deemed read.  The fuss for some (me inc) is the 'final' bill that Scottish Power have taken a DD using a so-called 'Actual' read rather than 'Estimated'.  Yes I agree that whatever comes down the industry data flows to Avro and to Scottish Power has to match and that these figures (whether deemed or the actual reads submitted) are used in the statements (possibly revised if needs be) that we get from both utilities firms down the line.  But if these figures don't initially match I doubt if these utility firms themselves will rectify the problems caused by the industry backend without more time and effort for weeks possibly stretching into months for those affected by someone's else's mistakes.  Re waiting for these validated reads to come through, we are now coming up to 4 months since the demise of YE and already it is creeping towards a month for me without validated opening electricity reads for the SP-to-Avro switch.  I'm starting to wonder not when they validate, but if they ever will 

Consumerist said:
 It looks as though Avro are waiting for details from the administrators so probably not Avro's fault.   

I'm usure as to why Avro would need information from the administrators for those who went from YE-SOLR to SP-Switch to Avro or even from those that went directly from YE-Avro.  What information do you think the admins would be providing?  Surely the critical data for the appointed DC are the historical meter readings held in some air-conditioned server.  I'm not being argumentative, I'm just really curious.

Avro could indeed be the innocent party in all this - trouble is I just don't know.  When I see the only way to contact them seemingly is via email (no chat all day today when I ahve tried) well I just get a little jittery and wonder if the decent reviews I saw about Avro before I signed up are not a reflection of where they are at right now.

 

wrongplanet

Consumerist said:

At the moment, I'd be more inclined to expect £110pa increase than £20pa.

No - they're comparing it with a past tariff called Simple & Premier, not Simple & SuperPremier which gives an incorrect 'saving'.

Simple & Premier is listed on https://customer.avroenergy.co.uk/Prices and plugging in the figures for that tariff gives the £110 figure. So that confirms it - MSE CEC is not giving a proper comparison. Anyone from MSE here?

Consumerist

[Deleted User] said:

I'm usure as to why Avro would need information from the administrators for those who went from YE-SOLR to SP-Switch to Avro or even from those that went directly from YE-Avro.

Sorry, I misunderstood your post.

polymaff

Consumerist said:

I don't quite see what all the fuss is about.

When the reading(s) validate then you'll get an updated statement. As long as the closing and opening reads match then you won't be charged twice for the same usage. If you pay by direct debit then it won't make a jot of difference to what you pay.

But you may pay more overall.  Think about it.

Consumerist

polymaff said:

But you may pay more overall.  Think about it.

No, it's beyond me. You had better explain.

polymaff

Two suppliers/tariffs with different rates per unit. Just what the matched closing and opening readings are will define how many units are charged to each supplier - and so how much is paid.

There have been many admissions on MSE of intentional mis-reporting in order to boost the consumption on the cheap supplier/tariff.

And that's probably the tip of the iceberg...

johnbhoy70

Day off today so decided to have a look at what's going on with this lot. Spent an hour or so on and off this morning wih it. I had noticed before that my gas prediction on the monthly rarely changed but never realised the scale of this and what issues it seems to cause. I've being with them for nearly 2 and half years now and my gas usage annual prediction has NEVER changed. Now i get that prices will vary to an extent but come on. It should also be noted that my electricity prediction is almost bang on the money however the gas is close to 25% out. Now, some of this is obviously down to covid with 2 kids at home for 5/6 months last year when house would usually have been an empty during the day. 

When i go for a quote they're saying i can save by jumping from Simple and SuperPremium to Simple and SuperSaving....i can't!! It's because they're using this well out of date gas usage. I'm a lot more comfortable now i've got my figures for this year written down based on last years usage. I'm within a couple of quid of the comparison sites  but i've probably rounded differently and used a slightly different conversion factor.  Don't think there's really any savings for me at the moment, certainly not any i'm comfy with, but i'll sit tight and come the summer i'll have a look at again.

Telegraph_Sam

With apologies for harping on about this but I'm convinced that for the sake of a peaceful life there just is no substitute for constructing one's own simple spreadsheet template, and running the numbers through it comparing one deal against another. using known inputs. This as an alternative to fathoming out how one source's claimed savings compares with another.. This obviously allows you to input your various gas usage assumptions without having to ask the supplier.. That said, that is precisely what I am trying to do with the Octopus Tracker tariff - and that definitely ain't simple!