Octopus Energy takes on Avro customers

susan47

I'm getting more and more alarmed as the days go by, as it's now getting on for 2 months since Avro went bust. At the time I had credit of around £150 and all payments up to date. Since then they have taken two monthly payments, and after a short while it was showing a balance of over £400 on my Avro. It now says over £615. I can't figure out how it looks like I owe them that much when they keep taking money and I had credit - add to which, I have started wearing a lot of clothes and not turning the heating on! I asked Octopus but their reply was that they couldn't do anything till I got the final statement and paid it. So I gave readings to Avro back in September, and I have given Octopus readings this week, but I have no idea who is taking what when...so today I cancelled my direct debit with Avro as I thought they might just be helping themselves to my account because they can. Was that a mistake? I just think it's appalling how long it's taking them to decide on who gets to charge what. The figures are crazy. I certainly don't owe Avro the £615 they say I do according to their website, having been in credt for £150 and paid £270 on top since the end of September. But if they take too much, who can I complain to?

victor2

susan47 said:

I'm getting more and more alarmed as the days go by, as it's now getting on for 2 months since Avro went bust. At the time I had credit of around £150 and all payments up to date. Since then they have taken two monthly payments, and after a short while it was showing a balance of over £400 on my Avro. It now says over £615. I can't figure out how it looks like I owe them that much when they keep taking money and I had credit - add to which, I have started wearing a lot of clothes and not turning the heating on! I asked Octopus but their reply was that they couldn't do anything till I got the final statement and paid it. So I gave readings to Avro back in September, and I have given Octopus readings this week, but I have no idea who is taking what when...so today I cancelled my direct debit with Avro as I thought they might just be helping themselves to my account because they can. Was that a mistake? I just think it's appalling how long it's taking them to decide on who gets to charge what. The figures are crazy. I certainly don't owe Avro the £615 they say I do according to their website, having been in credt for £150 and paid £270 on top since the end of September. But if they take too much, who can I complain to?

You don't owe Avro anything since they ceased trading and you already were in credit. The £615 will almost certainly be a credit balance because they are still showing your monthly payments but not deducting anything for usage.

Octopus cannot bill you until the Avro administrators produce the final billings. Octopus said any credit and monthly payments will transfer over to them.

2010

Consumerist said:

Looking at Helpful Octopus 24M Fixed Nov 2021 v1 online, for typical usage in Eastern region this works out for me as £1,339 pa compared to Flexible Avro at £1,306 pa.

If it is reckoned that the price cap might increase by up to 30% from April, it starts to look attractive.

Where did you see that tariff?
When I login to my account and click change tariff, it only offers a choice of two twelve month fixes.
Neither are worth switching to.

The Helpful Octopus 24M Fixed Nov 2021 v1 only shows when not logging in under "current tariffs" and filtered fixed and domestic.

MWT

It does seem that the 'Helpful' tariff is not intended to be generally available so I wouldn't make any decisions based on the ability to move to it...

2010

MWT said:

It does seem that the 'Helpful' tariff is not intended to be generally available so I wouldn't make any decisions based on the ability to move to it...

I have asked NINJA59, a few posts above, how they got it but haven`t received a reply.
In the current climate it looks too good to be widely available.

alw1971

I was in credit £109 with Avro. I sent meter readings in on 26/9 and made an Octopus Account which had already got many of my details except statements and balances obviously. On the Octopus account it said to send in meter readings on or just before 31/10 which I did. It also lists my tariff

Flexible Avro October 2021 v1

Prices follow wholesale costs

19.89p/kWh
26.82p/day

Flexible Avro October 2021 v1

Prices follow wholesale costs

3.94p/kWh
26.11p/day

alw1971

A reply I have just received from Octopus about my Avro d/d .......

Thank you for keeping in touch.

If you have an active direct debit already set-up with Avro, Octopus Energy will be working to have this migrated across to Octopus Energy so any future payments will be directed to Octopus Energy under the current mandate.

Once you are on supply with us, our system will check periodically to make sure your monthly direct debit will be enough to cover your energy charges without you falling behind. If it needs to change (up or down), we will be in touch to let you know with plenty of notice.

If you think your account is falling behind or getting too far ahead, you will also be able to adjust your monthly payments up or down online in your Octopus Energy once your account is fully set up with us. We will let you know shortly once this has been done.

2010

Consumerist said:

Looking at Helpful Octopus 24M Fixed Nov 2021 v1 online, for typical usage in Eastern region this works out for me as £1,339 pa compared to Flexible Avro at £1,306 pa.

If it is reckoned that the price cap might increase by up to 30% from April, it starts to look attractive.

Would you say that this tariff is widely available for Octopus customers to switch to now?

polymaff

alw1971 said:

Flexible Avro October 2021 v1

19.89p/kWh
26.82p/day

3.94p/kWh
26.11p/day

Hmm! Significantly cheaper than the eastern region figures...   ( 20.67, 24.01; 4.01,26.11 )

The difference on the typical (2900 / 12000) user basis is about £21pa.

If the cap fits...

MWT

2010 said:

VConsumerist said:

Looking at Helpful Octopus 24M Fixed Nov 2021 v1 online, for typical usage in Eastern region this works out for me as £1,339 pa compared to Flexible Avro at £1,306 pa.

If it is reckoned that the price cap might increase by up to 30% from April, it starts to look attractive.

Would you say that this tariff is widely available for Octopus customers to switch to now?

Apparently not, it appears it is not one that can be switched to by new customers, or transferred to by existing customers.