Avro Energy banned from taking on new customers - MSE News

Consumerist

CDSWFUK wrote: »

Like them or not Smart Meters are being pushed by government and the regulator, if Avro does not comply then they may be stripped of their licence.......if that happens then their customers will go through the supplier of last resort process.
Suppliers incentivise the installation of smart meters as they are under pressure to install them

Well, who would have thought it. You must be very well informed. :T

brewerdave

What's interesting is that I'm with two separate small suppliers, Better Energy for gas and Yorkshire Energy for leccy,
. BOTH of them have said that they are holding off an installation programme until the second half of 2019 at the earliest - when they are hoping that current difficulties are ironed out -so they can't be under OFGEM pressure:)

Consumerist

brewerdave wrote: »

What's interesting is that I'm with two separate small suppliers, Better Energy for gas and Yorkshire Energy for leccy,
. BOTH of them have said that they are holding off an installation programme until the second half of 2019 at the earliest - when they are hoping that current difficulties are ironed out -so they can't be under OFGEM pressure

As I understand it, all suppliers are under an obligation to install their quota of smart meters but hopefully by holding off they will install only SMETS2 meters. But I suspect they will still be under pressure to fulfil their quota.

brewerdave

Consumerist wrote: »

As I understand it, all suppliers are under an obligation to install their quota of smart meters but hopefully by holding off they will install only SMETS2 meters. But I suspect they will still be under pressure to fulfil their quota.

Actually spoke to someone at Yorkshire Energy in March, who confirmed that they had no start date for installation programmes -they were definitely waiting for SMETS2 to be proven, as per their website.
Better Energy are also still stating on their website that they haven't started a rollout yet. Not sure how they are getting away with it - but definitely sensible approach to wait til DCC links are proven to be working for the whole of the UK:)

Dird

omg :-o hopefully they'll be OK. Been with them for a while now although slightly annoying that they had a cheaper offer I could have switched to internally but wasn't aware for however long

wrongplanet

There's a bit more info here. Seems Avro have been treating Ofgem the same way as they have been treating customers:
www.choose.co.uk/news/2019/ofgem-ban-avro-taking-new-customers-smart-meters/

FIRSTTIMER

If you do some digging - the problem with Avro is its a father and son company - arrogance is running through the company

wrongplanet

FIRSTTIMER wrote: »

If you do some digging - the problem with Avro is its a father and son company - arrogance is running through the company

Yes, I had noticed that. I've fallen foul of family-run companies in the past - I had to take one to court to get the £3k pay they owed me.

Vegastare

With Avro and nothing to complain about, took out another year with them as again price was very competative.



As for smart meters, no I don't have one and find it annoying that folks assume they have to have one and also those firms that insist you get such a tariff if you agree to have one....utter rubbish.


Just another piece of rubbish that is out of date in a few months.

baldrick1000

I was with AVRO for over a year. During this time was in credit for over £150 and my monthly payments during the peak of winter was covering my energy usage. After 3 weeks of emailing and calling AVRO to ask for the money back they refused, therefore I decided that I would move due to the rudeness of the customer service and there refusal to provide the refund. Then started a catalogue of errors made by AVRO who continued to charge me even though I had left for another company, incorrect bills even though they agreed the final readings with my new supplier. After banging my head against a brick wall, I eventually raised with the ombudsman service who found in my favour. I am waiting for the compensation!

Yes they are cheap, but with that cheap you get rude and appalling customer service. This is the first time I have written on any forums regarding this experience and hopefully I will not have to do it again, but feel if you wish to join AVRO please go in eyes wide open and be ready for a battle if you want to leave or something goes wrong.