Octopus Energy takes on Avro customers

Hammer_Time

I was one of those customers who never fully transferred to Avro because they went bust a few days before my completion date. I phoned today and they told me it should be sorted in a few weeks. I will be surprised if it is.

westv

Hammer_Time said:

I was one of those customers who never fully transferred to Avro because they went bust a few days before my completion date. I phoned today and they told me it should be sorted in a few weeks. I will be surprised if it is.

Is anybody prepared to hold their breath on that? LOL!
I'm in two minds. I'm quite prepared to wait for it all to settle (it's not like I'll be going anywhere else anytime soon) but on the other hand I would like it sorted.

oliverbrown

Hammer_Time said:

I was one of those customers who never fully transferred to Avro because they went bust a few days before my completion date. I phoned today and they told me it should be sorted in a few weeks. I will be surprised if it is.

I don't hold up any hope for progress for us until the final bills are all generated for customers who switched to Avro pre-collapse, a process which has been going on for three months now.

millie

I sent meter readings on 28th December my balance was adjusted immediately but never had a bill. I allowed for xmas and new year holiday and emailed them this morning. They replied within 30 minutes with a bill attached to the email. 

2010

millie said:

I sent meter readings on 28th December my balance was adjusted immediately but never had a bill. I allowed for xmas and new year holiday and emailed them this morning. They replied within 30 minutes with a bill attached to the email. 

Thanks Millie, what email address did you use?

millie

Thanks Millie, what email address did you use?

hello@octopus.energy

2010

millie said:

Thanks Millie, what email address did you use?

hello@octopus.energy

Thanks, just emailed them using above.

MWT

Just for future reference, these are the most commonly needed contact points:

hello@octopus.energy for general customer support

smart@octopus.energy for smart metering issues

avro@octopus.energy for ex-Avro specific issues

[Deleted User]

I'm starting to wonder if Octopus have bitten off rather more than they can chew..

or rather that Ofgem think that Octopus as a SOLR are more efficient than might be the case.

I am fully cogniscent of the scale of the customer base (circa 580K) that Octopus have had to take on.  But actually I am only reliant on Octopus giving me the final credit refund due to me after leaving Avro after they (Avro) issued me a final statement before going bust.

I took the liberty of emailing the administrators today (in addition to Octopus) and received a fairly prompt response whereas the email also sent today to the avro email @ Octopus has gone unanswered as I write this email.

The reply from the administrators stated the following: 

"Octopus has had access to these records for a number of months and has asked that all queries are directed to it. The process to transition customer accounts and generate final bills is a complex one due to the compatibility of the system previously used by Avro and the Octopus platform. The process is being led by Octopus. Their technical specialists are working this through as a matter of high priority, recognising the complexity of the exercise and the high volume of customers (c.600k) that require their accounts reconciling and final bills raised."

Makes me wonder what the purpose of the administrators is in all of this.  The inference being that it is Octopus who are dragging their heels in being unable to cope with the sheer volume (and complexity) of this particular SOLR process.  

[Deleted User]

@[Deleted User] I'm not an ex Avro or Octopus customer, but I think the same principle holds true for all these SoLR exercises, be it Octopus, BG, Shell, EDF or whoever. I suspect that Ofgem sells it to them as a no-lose situation, because they can reclaim any incremental costs entailed. However, the process is obviously not as easy as that, because patently those suppliers will not, or shouldn't be able to, administer the migration process with their existing resources. Therefore more resources must be allocated, in terms of staff, IT, office space and other infrastructure etc

That is difficult in the short term, and I half suspect some suppliers might try to do it 'on the cheap', by not allocating adequate resources anyway, or are unable to in the current labour and other market. Conversely, at the other end, there may be a temptation to 'exaggerate' the costs entailed. 

Don't get me started on Administrators...