Octopus Energy takes on Avro customers

loveabargain13

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. 

Millie, were you issued a final bill from Avro? I’ve sent three lots of meter readings in November / December and January but have not heard anything. Just a message to say that they are waiting for a final bill from Avro. Who I never actually used any energy as I joined them just after the collapse.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] said:

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.  

The sole purpose of Avro’s Administator/s is to wind up the company’s affairs and to maximise funds to pay off the company’s creditors. The SoLR process is designed solely to keep the lights on. I am also the victim of a failed supplier. I thought that I had been careful and chosen a supplier with a good business record over a number of years. Unfortunately, the company that they hedged with went into liquidation. Who do I blame for the minor inconvenience that I am experiencing - in short, myself: I made a bad supplier choice. 

FWiW, I have been an Octopus electricity customer for nearly 5 years. When it comes to IT to support billing etc, Octopus has developed a platform that is genuinely World-beating which is why UK suppliers such as EDF; E.oN and Good Energy have bought into it. If Octopus is struggling to integrate data from Avro then, personally I would be surprised if any other UK supplier could do any better.

booshya

Dolor said:

DerwentMailman said:

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.  

The sole purpose of Avro’s Administator/s is to wind up the company’s affairs and to maximise funds to pay off the company’s creditors. The SoLR process is designed solely to keep the lights on. ...

.. and to protect & refund (or credit) the credit balances of  domestic customers of the failed supplier.

In this particular case, it seems Octopus unusually has even taken over the production and issue of final bills of the failed supplier (where not already issued) as well.
According to Octopus, they had already completed over 50% of that in just over 2 weeks since being provided all the required access.

Over 3 weeks further on, there has been no further update by Octopus and customers are still claerly waiting for their money.

booshya

Dolor said:

DerwentMailman said:

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.  

... I am also the victim of a failed supplier. I thought that I had been careful and chosen a supplier with a good business record over a number of years. Unfortunately, the company that they hedged with went into liquidation. Who do I blame for the minor inconvenience that I am experiencing - in short, myself: I made a bad supplier choice. 

FWiW, I have been an Octopus electricity customer for nearly 5 years. When it comes to IT to support billing etc, Octopus has developed a platform that is genuinely World-beating which is why UK suppliers such as EDF; E.oN and Good Energy have bought into it. If Octopus is struggling to integrate data from Avro then, personally I would be surprised if any other UK supplier could do any better.

I wonder how many other former customers of Zog Energy blame themselves for making "a bad supplier choice."?

As I understand it. EDF also use (or will soon use) the Kracken billing system. I wonder how long it will take EDF to refund/credit the credit balances of Zog customers.

Zog (under administration)  have already produced their own final bills for their customers.

EDF were only appointed as the SoLR  for Zog effective as recently as 04 Dec 2021
Octopus were appointed SoLR for Avro effective 26 Sep 2021

[Deleted User]

booshya said:

Dolor said:

DerwentMailman said:

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.  

The sole purpose of Avro’s Administator/s is to wind up the company’s affairs and to maximise funds to pay off the company’s creditors. The SoLR process is designed solely to keep the lights on. ...

.. and to protect & refund (or credit) the credit balances of  domestic customers of the failed supplier.

In this particular case, it seems Octopus unusually has even taken over the production and issue of final bills of the failed supplier (where not already issued) as well.
According to Octopus, they had already completed over 50% of that in just over 2 weeks since being provided all the required access.

Over 3 weeks further on, there has been no further update by Octopus and customers are still claerly waiting for their money.

As the SoLR pays out the money (which it later reclaims from Ofgem), I guess that Ofgem will want Octopus to ensure that the credit/debit balances are accurate before there is any payout. None of us have any idea just how bad (or good) Avro's customer billing system might have been.

It is worth remembering that prior to October 2016, the customers of failed suppliers would have been on a very long list of unsecured creditors who would most likely have received just pence in the £ for the money that they are owed. Customers owed Special Export Guarantee payments are being advised to submit an unsecured creditor claim when a supplier fails. 

booshya

Dolor said:

booshya said:

Dolor said:

DerwentMailman said:

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.  

The sole purpose of Avro’s Administator/s is to wind up the company’s affairs and to maximise funds to pay off the company’s creditors. The SoLR process is designed solely to keep the lights on. ...

.. and to protect & refund (or credit) the credit balances of  domestic customers of the failed supplier.

In this particular case, it seems Octopus unusually has even taken over the production and issue of final bills of the failed supplier (where not already issued) as well.
According to Octopus, they had already completed over 50% of that in just over 2 weeks since being provided all the required access.

Over 3 weeks further on, there has been no further update by Octopus and customers are still claerly waiting for their money.

As the SoLR pays out the money (which it later reclaims from Ofgem), I guess that Ofgem will want Octopus to ensure that the credit/debit balances are accurate before there is any payout. None of us have any idea just how bad (or good) Avro's customer billing system might have been.

...

Sounds like it wasn't too bad.

Remember, Octopus produced 300,000 final bills of former Avro customers, representing >50% of Avro customers,  within just over 2 weeks of getting the access to do so.

Presumably Ofgem would want an equal amount of care you refer to in ensuring they were accurate.

Sadly, over 3 weeks further on, Octopus has not provided any further update, and former Avro customers are still waiting to see their credit balances refunded in some way.


Edit:
We'll have to wait to see just how much Octopus attempts to claim from Ofgem of the credit balances.
Perhaps Octopus agreed to fund some of the costs themselves in return for gaining overnight the > 0.5 million customers in what was a competitive bid.

Octopus were used to paying about £100 per customer, as I'm sure you are aware of and potentially benefitted yourself from.

We used to see a similar praise for Bulb who were often applauded on social media when they offered a similar incentive.


Edit 2:
I'm sure Octopus are fully aware of Ofgem's expectations of a SoLR in submitting accurate claims.

This isn't their first rodeo.

e.g. Octopus were appointed SoLR for failed Iresa a few years back.
Octopus initially cheekily put in a guessed/estimated claim for credit refunds based on 35% of former Iresa customer not even having an agreed final bill.

Ofgem rejected that claim.

Only when the number of unagreed final accounts was less than 10% did Ofgem agree a sum, and that had then produced savings over the original claimed amount for credit balances in excess of £0.5million

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] said:

As the SoLR pays out the money (which it later reclaims from Ofgem), I guess that Ofgem will want Octopus to ensure that the credit/debit balances are accurate before there is any payout. None of us have any idea just how bad (or good) Avro's customer billing system might have been.

It is worth remembering that prior to October 2016, the customers of failed suppliers would have been on a very long list of unsecured creditors who would most likely have received just pence in the £ for the money that they are owed. Customers owed Special Export Guarantee payments are being advised to submit an unsecured creditor claim when a supplier fails. 

Personally Avro's billing for the time I was with them was no better or worse than the billing I am receiving from Eon_Next.  Bills were accurate and used the submitted reads that I sent them.  I even have a correct final bill/statement issued by them but alas they went bust shortly thereafter before they refunded me.  There should be no need for Octopus or any ex-Avro employees (working for Octopus) to retrospectively change my bill now - it just needs looking at and confirming.

If the email I got from the admins is correct and (big if) Octopus now have all the 580K account details perhaps they (Octopus) should come clean now and give the ex-Avro customers some sort timeline of how they see the remainder of the process panning out.  Personally I'd be satisfied if I was given some timeframe even it was another 3 months!  But since the 16th December website posting there has been no added information.  Originally news was given daily (sometime twice). then it seemed to go weekly and now it is looking like monthly.

I take your point re the changes that happened in October 2016.  However many people were actively encouraged by almost everyone from Martin Lewis to Citizens Advice etc etc to shop around ever since the supply was opened up to grab a cheaper energy deal.  Somewhat like the South Sea Bubble   When Breeze went bust a few years ago I was not even aware of the SOLR process.  Many people will feel burned by what has happened this autumn/winter and taken completely by surprise.

Things will probably never be the same again in terms of how customers use their energy and how very expensive it is going to feel for many.   

[Deleted User]

It is also worth remembering that the SoLR process was set up to deal with the occasional supplier failure. It was never envisaged that suppliers would go over the cliff edge like lemmings. Clearly there has been a failure of regulation but as one CEO said recently ‘you shouldn’t deal with regulatory failure by bringing in more regulation’. 

Worth a read if you are interested in knowing more:

https://octopus.energy/blog/the-price-cap-is-not-responsible-for-the-demise-of-energy-companies/

millie

loveabargain13 said:

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. 

Millie, were you issued a final bill from Avro? I’ve sent three lots of meter readings in November / December and January but have not heard anything. Just a message to say that they are waiting for a final bill from Avro. Who I never actually used any energy as I joined them just after the collapse.

Yes I did have a final bill from Avro I had been with them for a few of years. My balance was transferred after the final bill.

booshya

millie said:

loveabargain13 said:

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. 

Millie, were you issued a final bill from Avro? I’ve sent three lots of meter readings in November / December and January but have not heard anything. Just a message to say that they are waiting for a final bill from Avro. Who I never actually used any energy as I joined them just after the collapse.

Yes I did have a final bill from Avro I had been with them for a few of years. My balance was transferred after the final bill.

I could have sworn you previously posted that your Avro balance had been transferred to your Octopus account and that the transferred balance did not include the final Avro bill amount.

Edit:
I thought I was perhaps going mad

millie said:

My Avro balance has now been transferred to my Octopus Account, It shows the balance to be the same as the day Avro went out of business. The final bill has not been taken off.

27 November 2021 at 8:03AM