Was AVRO trading illegally or fraudulently for the last 2+ years? Was it like a Ponzi Scheme?

wittynamegoeshere

ihatetrump said:
Hopefully the administrators and relevant authorities will track down the Director/Shareholders' other investments and seize them and proceed with criminal charges.

No chance - this is Great Britain, the home of good old-fashioned white collar crime.  If they could prove that the company was run fraudulently then that would imply that Ofgem wasn't doing its job, highly unlikely given that it's likely that they would be the ones investigating.

Someone will get paid massive amounts to spend years writing some long-winded report, by which time everyone will have forgotten what it was about, state that "lessons will be learnt" and that will be that.

JAMCT

ihatetrump said:

Reference to 'gullible' really relates to the way customers were milked into having large credit balances - on the basis of building up a reserve to pay for the winter fuel. The Administrators have estimated advance customer payments totalled £90 Million at the end of September and trade debtors were £45M. There's no way of knowing how many of the reported 580,000 customers owed money vs how many had paid in advance. 

What is certain however, is that the advance customer payments were not used to buy future fuel by AVRO - because their "simple economics" (quote from 22 year old CEO Jake Brown back in 2016) didn't stretch as far as hedging - they bought when they needed it and although they had £25M as prepaid supplies when they went under, that represents less than 2 weeks of supply.

I can't disagree with @Bendo about 'those more switched on', but how many of those with large credit balances could afford the luxury of bailing out and leaving their credit balances to be refunded while the SoLR process goes through and start building again with a new supplier? I was in a similar situation with Igloo - so yes, I'm one of the gullible ones also - it's taken me 2 months to get my £600 credit balance back. 

Being a customer of Avro for just 8 days before they ceased trading on 21/09/2021, I am still waiting for the Administrators to release my £97 credit to Octopus Energy some 6 months later.

On 9/9/2021 Avro had taken £119 by DD 7 days BEFORE I was an official customer so according to Octopus, my Avro account is one of the few remaining 'complex' accounts yet to be finalised 😠.  I wonder therefore if my 'credit' has gone walkabout as the Administrators are still tracking down the whereabouts of some of Avro customer's credit balances!... fraudulently diverted to some offshore account I wonder?.

MWT

JAMCT said:

 I wonder therefore if my 'credit' has gone walkabout as the Administrators are still tracking down the whereabouts of some of Avro customer's credit balances!... fraudulently diverted to some offshore account I wonder?.

As far as the SoLR process goes, there is no credit balance to track down, Avro confirms the final balance, Octopus carries the cost of that and eventually files a claim with Ofgem for repayment.

The administrators on the other-hand will be diligent seeking out any funds that have gone astray.

[Deleted User]

JAMCT said:

ihatetrump said:

Reference to 'gullible' really relates to the way customers were milked into having large credit balances - on the basis of building up a reserve to pay for the winter fuel. The Administrators have estimated advance customer payments totalled £90 Million at the end of September and trade debtors were £45M. There's no way of knowing how many of the reported 580,000 customers owed money vs how many had paid in advance. 

What is certain however, is that the advance customer payments were not used to buy future fuel by AVRO - because their "simple economics" (quote from 22 year old CEO Jake Brown back in 2016) didn't stretch as far as hedging - they bought when they needed it and although they had £25M as prepaid supplies when they went under, that represents less than 2 weeks of supply.

I can't disagree with @Bendo about 'those more switched on', but how many of those with large credit balances could afford the luxury of bailing out and leaving their credit balances to be refunded while the SoLR process goes through and start building again with a new supplier? I was in a similar situation with Igloo - so yes, I'm one of the gullible ones also - it's taken me 2 months to get my £600 credit balance back. 

Being a customer of Avro for just 8 days before they ceased trading on 21/09/2021, I am still waiting for the Administrators to release my £97 credit to Octopus Energy some 6 months later.

There is no credit to handover (save for a few pennies in the £). Suppliers do not hold consumer credits in escrow: therefore, it follows that if you were dealing directly with the Administrator you would be deemed to be an unsecured creditor. Secured creditors get first dibs at any money left in the business.

Your full credit balance is protected by Ofgem and, in the first instance, it is paid out by the SoLR. The SoLR then agrees a claim with Ofgem for all the costs of taking over a failed supplier. Ofgem then passes SoLR claims on to the Grid operator and, eventually through suppliers, to all energy consumers in the form of increased standing charges.

JAMCT

UPDATE!,.... Prior to my previous post in this thread yesterday, I had, earlier in the day, complained to Octopus Energy via email, requesting an explanation as to why my account has not been credited the £97 balance owed by Avro Energy.

Well, surprise surprise, my Octopus account has, this morning, been credited with £97.82 via SoLR together with Avro's FINAL bill. I am now a happy bunny😆.

ihatetrump

Good to see that finally Channel 4 Dispatches did a feature piece on the energy crisis and highlighted what some of us have been saying about AVRO and their questionable (fraudulent?) activities.

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/why-are-your-energy-bills-so-high-dispatches

Even if you don't watch the entire episode, watch from the 20th minute onwards. 

Gerry1

ihatetrump said:

Even if you don't watch the entire episode, watch from the 20th minute onwards.

'No episode available to watch on demand.' 

jimjames

wittynamegoeshere said:

ihatetrump said:
Hopefully the administrators and relevant authorities will track down the Director/Shareholders' other investments and seize them and proceed with criminal charges.

No chance - this is Great Britain, the home of good old-fashioned white collar crime.  If they could prove that the company was run fraudulently then that would imply that Ofgem wasn't doing its job, highly unlikely given that it's likely that they would be the ones investigating.

Absolutely. It's 3 years on from London Capital & Finance failing taking £237m of investors money with them and no sign so far of any prosecutions of those who appeared to walk off with the proceeds. Yet if you do over a bookies for £100 the police will be onto you instantly.

brewerdave

Listening to the forensic accountant re Avro and others suggested that they could make a whole series on the failed Companies. That wall of red numbers was quite horrendous - OFGEM should hang their collective heads in shame !!

ihatetrump

Gerry1 said:

ihatetrump said:

Even if you don't watch the entire episode, watch from the 20th minute onwards.

'No episode available to watch on demand.' 

Seems that C4 restrict viewing to certain times. here's a screenshot of what Google shows: 



Next viewing in the middle of the night..... (at least it is for me  )