AVRO Energy Smart Meters - Whats the point?

IAMIAM

They are not taking the reading electronically, bills still show E for estimated.
They will not accept manual readings online, the bills still stay E for estimated.
They will not accept me going to the meter and pressing B to send the reading either.
SO two months ago my bills were accurate because I would put a reading in manually every month, now they are way out and the bills have been estimates for the last two months?!?!!

niktheguru

this is becoming a very common concern for avro customers.....it sounds pretty ridiculous.

Have you tried emailing them or calling them and providing meter readings?

MarkClip

I provide Avro with old fashioned - non-smart - meter readings every month.  In January 2021 we had several calls out of the blue asking me to read my meters - for "audit purposes".  I contacted Avro to ask if this was a genuine call - they said yes it was from Lowri Beck.  We provided the meter readings but then the next month the same happened.  I said I'd like a smart meter to stop these annoying calls - that was February and Avro said that they would pass our details to Lowri Beck.  It's now June and we've not heard anything from Lowri Beck or Avro.  When I contacted Avro they said (after a 10 working day wait) contact Lowri Beck.  I contacted Lowri Beck only to be told that there was no availability in our area and they could not explain why there had apparently been no availability in our area (North Gloucestershire) since Feb 2021 or give me any idea when there might be availability.  From my perspective Avro/Lowri Beck are not "taking all reasonable steps to roll out smart meters ... by the 30 June 2021" - as required by Ofgem.  Avro have some of the lowest tariffs and this necessarily means cutting their cloth very tight, however as tariffs are beginning to be differentiated based on meter-type, and electric vehicles are becoming more common, I'm now keen to join the smart meter club.  It seems it will need Ofgem action to give Avro/Lowri Beck some extra incentive - or perhaps I need to switch energy supplier?

MidlandsGlory

I got smart meters put in by AVRO, as you say, they can't actually read them. I still send in readings via the website and they do use those, but add an estimate on for the time between when my reading was taken to the day they calculate the bill so just a couple of days estimated use at worst and to be fair its usually not far off.
What is the point of smart meters? well AVRO might not be able to read them but your next supplier might so nothing lost.
Or you can play some fun new games with them, such as trying to find a spot in the house the in-house display (IHD) will actually connect to the meter (I will give you a clue - actually, pretty much nowhere).
Alternatively another fun game is to put the IHD right next to the meter so it does connect, and then connect it to your wifi and the cloud so you can read the information on the phone app. Then AVRO will mischievously send a reset command every night that wipes your wifi settings so you have to reconnect it every day. That one does get a bit dull after about 50 goes. 

IAMIAM

I have switched the IHD off and put it in a cupboard - is this the problem?

Ectophile

IAMIAM said:

I have switched the IHD off and put it in a cupboard - is this the problem?

No.  The IHD is only for your benefit, if you choose to use it.  It has nothing to do with the readings sent to the supplier.

MidlandsGlory

I am switching to PFP shortly who I believe can actually use the smart meter readings, yay!  I wonder what that will do to the IHD? the IHD is a curiosity as it seems to also collect things like tariff information from the meter. I presume when PFP take over they will send out their tariff info to the meter which will propagate to the IHD.. we will see.

Daz2009

Why then are Avro pushing smart meters if their system can't interface with them ?
Are the government paying them ?

Carrot007

Daz2009 said:

Why then are Avro pushing smart meters if their system can't interface with them ?
Are the government paying them ?

More that the government are fining them a lot it they don't meet installation targets. (which will only either cause them to go out og business or push up prices).

Bendo

Complain and escalate to ombudsman. They are in breach of the ofgem SLC but unless people complain nothing will change.

[Deleted User]

Bendo said:

Complain and escalate to ombudsman. They are in breach of the ofgem SLC but unless people complain nothing will change.

Which SLC is that? Ofgem has acknowledged that some suppliers are having ‘technical difficulties’ connecting either their own or a third-party adapter to their billing systems.