Avro Energy reviews: Give your feedback

Consumerist

Telegraph_Sam said:

The arrangement that I have come to with my supplier is a variable D/D with which they charge me whatever the monthly balance is, no more and no less. Saves all the faffing around with forecasts and excessive balances building up and having to be adjusted. Blindingly obvious way to run the show - except that it should forestall the usual guff about having to build up a large one way credit in anticipation of the winter months ..Why this is not universal practice is beyond me

I thought it cost more to pay by variable DD than fixed.

It will be interesting to see how suppliers deal with being penalised for holding excessive credit balances and repaying those balances automatically at the end of contract. Perhaps the variable DD will start to become the norm. Let's hope so.

airedalejoe_2

Just left Avro.
If everything going well their website is fine, they provide a smart meter and they ask/remind you every month for meter readings which I've just found out BG don't. Little thing but far better to get a reminder.
Customer service is appalling, no telephone contact allowed and emails frequently not replied to.
Wouldn't go back to them.

Telegraph_Sam

"I thought it cost more to pay by variable DD than fixed."
I have never heard of this practice and  would be amazed if this were the case, at least without prior notification
"...suppliers deal with being penalised for holding excessive credit balances"
I believe that there is legislation in the pipeline for this?
"..they ask/remind you every month for meter readings" 
I thought that the whole idea of smart meters was to do away with this though my inclination is to use both methods at least until the system beds down.

Consumerist

Ofgem hopes the provisions will be in force by Summer 2022. But that's Ofgem.

2010

airedalejoe_2 said:

Just left Avro.
If everything going well their website is fine, they provide a smart meter and they ask/remind you every month for meter readings which I've just found out BG don't. Little thing but far better to get a reminder.
Customer service is appalling, no telephone contact allowed and emails frequently not replied to.
Wouldn't go back to them.

You might have left Avro but you must be paying more with BG.

Gerry1

Telegraph_Sam said:

The arrangement that I have come to with my supplier is a variable D/D with which they charge me whatever the monthly balance is, no more and no less. Saves all the faffing around with forecasts and excessive balances building up and having to be adjusted. Blindingly obvious way to run the show - except that it should forestall the usual guff about having to build up a large one way credit in anticipation of the winter months ..Why this is not universal practice is beyond me

If Ofgem were any good they'd make Variable DD the default option.  It would end much of the All You Can Eat confusion that's so widespread, it would stop dodgy agents luring punters with unrealistically low DDs that soon increase and it would probably mean fewer companies going bust because they were operating glorified Ponzi schemes.

Buying petrol and most other products results in a bill that reflects recent usage, so why should energy companies be any different?  Fixed DDs should be available on request for people that like to pay the same every month, but they risk a problem coming down the tracks when a big catch-up bill arrives, so in reality FDD may not really be doing them any favours.

Telegraph_Sam

Or, if that's asking too much, a to be agreed "minimum D/D" with the facility for manual monthly top-ups for those who can be bothered. I would be interested to hear the argument AGAINST such arrangements (other than "we've never done it before and there isn't a demand ..."

rubybloo

After numerous emails requesting closure of our account, and even cancelling our direct debit, Avro finally called me 8 weeks later just an hour after I posted a negative review on Trustpilot. 

Becky from Avro blathered on that they were “behind” due to the stamp duty holiday which is frankly a bald faced lie although a creative change from Covid, Brexit or WFH. 

She did however manage to close my account in a matter of minutes and as we had a debit balance which I’ve paid, hopefully that’s the last time I’ll ever have to deal with this shambolic company. 

bellandbottle

d.

Nice one. Now they will have to send you a final bill if they want their money. It will be interesting to see what date they put on it.

I have just had the final bill from Avro, not using the Electicity reading I submitted, but close (the Gas reading was exact) and I have settled up with them. If you remember, I pulled back the DD payment they took after the handover date, and that was essentially the same as the final bill.

The support person said that "Despite previous notifications your Avro Account has yet to be settled" and said that if I do not pay within 7 days this debt will be referred to a debt recovery body.

I don't think I will be dealing with this organisation again, but at least the saga has finished!

Telegraph_Sam

I got the impression previously (with Tonik before they folded) that the debt recovery threat option is part of the standard vocab of many of these companies at the economy end of the scale. Whether such threats have been in the end legally successful, as opposed to achieving the same result via the fear factor, is a moot point.  Even the heavies have to abide by the rules. Others may wish to share their experience. There probably is a Martin Lewis guide to these things somewhere.