Avro Energy reviews: Give your feedback

Bendo

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.

The whole point of a smart meter is that you shouldn't be asked to read it. The supplier is supposed to take readings automatically from it and indeed are required to do so as part of the ofgem standard licence conditions. However they simply don't bother as they are useless

Daz2009

My 1st 12 months with Avro comes to an end in a couple of weeks.
I've been paying £52 per month for dual fuel and looking at the figures that will work out pretty much spot on over the year.
I've renewed because they're still very competitive but they want to put up my DD to £78 per month.That's a combination of price rises in the market and my predicted usage going up,which I don't think it will.
I had smart meters fitted yesterday which all went through smoothly.
Hopefully they will work correctly and Avro will automatically reduce my DD if my usage remains at it's current level,otherwise I will have to get on to them

Bendo

Avro will continue to ask you for meter readings as they haven't got a link into the DCC to do it automatically. I'd suggest when you get your first email for a reading, initiateba complaint and when you are fobbed off ask for a deadlock letter to escalate to the ombudsman for the breach of Ofgem standard licence conditions.

Telegraph_Sam

I have often wondered what legal rights the consumer has to dispute rises in D/D amounts over the course of a contract. On the basis of postulated increases in winter consumption which amount to speculation. Is there an (unwritten) rule that says that it is OK for an account to be run on a large credit balance basis, but never ever on a corresponding level of debit balance?

Consumerist

The only recourse I'm aware of is through the Ombudsman.

A supplier must justify the level of DD if requested by the customer and should be based on the latest information available to the supplier. If the customer disputes the amount then it's only the Ombudsman who can decide on the basis of best practice in the industry. Suppliers' Ts&Cs are generally so vague as to leave the door open for them to charge what they deem fit.

MWT

Telegraph_Sam said:

Is there an (unwritten) rule that says that it is OK for an account to be run on a large credit balance basis, but never ever on a corresponding level of debit balance?

It is usually a written rule in the supply contract that you have to keep your account in credit at all times.

Some go further and will be more specific about always having one or two months credit, or will retain the right to increase the DD over the winter for example...

BUFF

Telegraph_Sam said:

Why this is not universal practice is beyond me

Beause some other people prefer to have their spend spread evenly across the year even if that is not how their consumption pattern is. My electricity use is pretty flat across all months, however, I use virtually no gas over the summer months but come the winter, living in an Edwardian house in Scotland, the use jumps drastically once the central heating goes on.

Telegraph_Sam

Consumerist said:

The only recourse I'm aware of is through the Ombudsman.

A supplier must justify the level of DD if requested by the customer and should be based on the latest information available to the supplier. If the customer disputes the amount then it's only the Ombudsman who can decide on the basis of best practice in the industry. Suppliers' Ts&Cs are generally so vague as to leave the door open for them to charge what they deem fit.

One wonders what happens if say my account is reasonably in credit but the supplier decides to increase the D/D in my view to an unjustifiable extent, and I then get my bank to reclaim the increased amount under the D/D guarantee, having notified the supplier of my views. I am not refusing to pay to keep my account in balance, but equally not agreeing to use the supplier as a building society. By the time the Ombudsman gets around to evaluating the facts I will probably have switched supplier!
Expressed in different words: What is "best practice in the industry" and why can this not be shouted from the rooftops for all to abide by?

MWT

The problem is that in most of the supply contracts you are explicitly agreeing to use your supplier as a 'building society' ...

You will also find that your bank is unlikely to cooperate with any partial reclaim of the DD nor will they support you reclaiming a DD where you have been informed of the amount in advance, they will not get involved in disputes over contractual terms.

If you don't like what your supplier is doing, switching away is the quickest solution.

In terms of 'best practice', I'm sure there are others, but Octopus seems to tick all the right boxes, you have control to set your own DD and to make top-up payments if you feel they are needed. Also their system will prompt you to take a refund if the balance gets too high. They only require that you keep the account in credit so no need to build up a large balance if you don't want to.

Telegraph_Sam

I agree with your comments on Octopus.  I was not using them as an example to compete with the focus of this thread. I have even agreed with Octopus to use variable D/D's for the outstanding amounts only which does away with monthly arguments.

My bank First Direct seems to be cooperative over reclaiming D/D's though I agree that it seems to be all or nothing rather than partial. Provided that I confirm that I have tried to resolve the issue with the supplier but without success. They don't want to get bogged down in the nitty gritty. I seem to remember doing this in the last days of Tonik .. This is what is required as a last resort to level the playing field if the supplier does indeed see themselves as competing with Nationwide.