Account credit still held by Avro

regency_man

Hi all,

I seem to have fallen down an administrative black hole.  Just a couple of weeks prior to Avro collapsing I completed a voluntary switch to Octopus (I now know Martin was advising against this, but I switched for other reasons not the impending collapse so I had no idea).  Subsequenlty Avro issued me a final bill which left me £380 in credit, however they went bust before they refunded this to me.

I've spoke with Octopus about this immediately after the news of the customer transfer and they confirmed what I suspected, that my credit won't 'automatically' transfer over to Octopus with the rest of the Avro customers because I'd officially already transferred to Octopus before the Ofgem cutover date.  They have said, as far as they know, credit balances from recently departed Avro customers will be honored, but this is a seperate process and they don't have a lot of information on the timescale.  Since then I've sent a followup email once a month and both times it's come back with a stock "We have not received any account credit information from the administrators and have no indication when we will receive this".

Is my money actually safe and somehow protected by Ofgem?  Or am I in the position I would be with any other collapsed company and left in a long line of creditors with little chance of ever seeing it again?

Thanks.

booshya

regency_man said:

Hi all,

I seem to have fallen down an administrative black hole.  Just a couple of weeks prior to Avro collapsing I completed a voluntary switch to Octopus (I now know Martin was advising against this, but I switched for other reasons not the impending collapse so I had no idea).  Subsequenlty Avro issued me a final bill which left me £380 in credit, however they went bust before they refunded this to me.

I've spoke with Octopus about this immediately after the news of the customer transfer and they confirmed what I suspected, that my credit won't 'automatically' transfer over to Octopus with the rest of the Avro customers because I'd officially already transferred to Octopus before the Ofgem cutover date.  They have said, as far as they know, credit balances from recently departed Avro customers will be honored, but this is a seperate process and they don't have a lot of information on the timescale.  Since then I've sent a followup email once a month and both times it's come back with a stock "We have not received any account credit information from the administrators and have no indication when we will receive this".

Is my money actually safe and somehow protected by Ofgem?  Or am I in the position I would be with any other collapsed company and left in a long line of creditors with little chance of ever seeing it again?

Thanks.

Assuming you are a domestic customer, your money is safe. Octopus have to refund it to you by order of Ofgem, but they have not put a timeframe as to when.

Ofgem has appointed Octopus Energy to take on supplying Avro Energy’s approximately 580,000 domestic customers. ...

Outstanding credit balances, including money owed to both existing and former domestic customers of Avro Energy will also be honoured...

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/ofgem-appoints-octopus-energy-take-customers-avro-energy

There is no transfer of money. Avro have gone bust. Octopus have to pay it. All Octopus need is the account details from Avro.

I suggest you raise a complaint against Octopus. That will start the 8 week clock ticking as to them resolving it. Apparently Octopus have put some of their senior management up in hotels close to the Avro offices to get all this resolved. I sometimes wonder what they are actually doing there?
Perhaps chewing the cud in the hotel bar?

Edit: I edited the post as I originally incorrectly suggested that Octopus management were re-located close to the Avro administrators, rather than the Avro Offices in Hinkley.

I now see the Avro Administrators contact address is in Brighton, Perhaps the management should now relocate to Brighton?  Would be an even better jolly for them than being in Hinkley (no offence to Hinkley residents)

[Deleted User]

regency_man said:

Hi all,

I seem to have fallen down an administrative black hole.  Just a couple of weeks prior to Avro collapsing I completed a voluntary switch to Octopus (I now know Martin was advising against this, but I switched for other reasons not the impending collapse so I had no idea).  Subsequenlty Avro issued me a final bill which left me £380 in credit, however they went bust before they refunded this to me.

You are probably in the same boat as myself only my reason was a home move situation.  I too am probably now classified as an ex-Avro customer and I too received my final statement (credit of £187) but they went bust before they settled.

I've spoke with Octopus about this immediately after the news of the customer transfer and they confirmed what I suspected, that my credit won't 'automatically' transfer over to Octopus with the rest of the Avro customers because I'd officially already transferred to Octopus before the Ofgem cutover date.  They have said, as far as they know, credit balances from recently departed Avro customers will be honored, but this is a seperate process and they don't have a lot of information on the timescale.  Since then I've sent a followup email once a month and both times it's come back with a stock "We have not received any account credit information from the administrators and have no indication when we will receive this".

Yes I am doing a monthly email to Octopus and get the same from them - the last reply in early December stated "We are still waiting for information from Avro's administration so we can transfer your credit balance and all your details."

Is my money actually safe and somehow protected by Ofgem?  Or am I in the position I would be with any other collapsed company and left in a long line of creditors with little chance of ever seeing it again?

I am sure we will see the credit refunded but it may well be many more months to come yet.

Thanks.

Hope this helps

MWT

booshya said:

I suggest you raise a complaint against Octopus. That will start the 8 week clock ticking as to them resolving it. Apparently Octopus have put some of their senior management up in hotels close to the Avro offices to get all this resolved. I sometimes wonder what they are actually doing there?
Perhaps chewing the cud in the hotel bar?

Not perhaps the most helpful advice.

The Ombudsman is not going to get involved in a complaint regarding the SoLR process while the process is still in progress, and a compliant is not going to get one person moved up the queue when they are dealing with over half a million customers being transferred...

Closed accounts details will get transferred to Octopus eventually, but they are usually the last to be done so it is still rather early to be playing the 'complaint' card.

regency_man

Thanks all.  Reassuring to know it's covered.

The lack of updates is the part that frustrates me, there is a great deal of FAQs/comms from Octopus for the 'regular' customers who are switching directly from Avro to Octopus.  There is almost nothing for people in my situation.

MWT

regency_man said:

The lack of updates is the part that frustrates me, there is a great deal of FAQs/comms from Octopus for the 'regular' customers who are switching directly from Avro to Octopus.  There is almost nothing for people in my situation.

Regrettably this is normal as there is a lot to do to get the current customers moved and set up with their new accounts, payment methods etc. and that all tends to get done first.

Only after that is complete do they work through the closed accounts with balances and deal with those.

There is not much they can say at the moment, nor do CS staff get much of a briefing on these accounts as ideally they will have no need to know as once the details are transferred you are either going to get a cheque in the post or possible a bank transfer if the failed supplier still has your account details.

In your case you may get a credit to your Octopus account if they spot you are a current customer...

Bendo

Same boat here although I moved to Sainsbury's energy. When Eversmart went bust, it took about 18 months to get my credit back from the SoLR. All you can do is be patient.

booshya

MWT said:

booshya said:

I suggest you raise a complaint against Octopus. That will start the 8 week clock ticking as to them resolving it. Apparently Octopus have put some of their senior management up in hotels close to the Avro offices to get all this resolved. I sometimes wonder what they are actually doing there?
Perhaps chewing the cud in the hotel bar?

Not perhaps the most helpful advice.

The Ombudsman is not going to get involved in a complaint regarding the SoLR process while the process is still in progress, and a compliant is not going to get one person moved up the queue when they are dealing with over half a million customers being transferred...

Closed accounts details will get transferred to Octopus eventually, but they are usually the last to be done so it is still rather early to be playing the 'complaint' card.

I'm not expecting anyone to be "moved up the queue", but rather to encourage Octopus to get their finger out.

regency_man

Well I'm not worrying too much for the moment, but if Octopus start demanding payment or trying to increase my DD due to usage... I will be citing this issue quite forcefully! 

booshya

regency_man said:

Well I'm not worrying too much for the moment, but if Octopus start demanding payment or trying to increase my DD due to usage... I will be citing this issue quite forcefully! 

Fair enough

But presumably you were worried about it for at least the past 2 months where you have been chasing Octopus several times, and yesterday started this thread over this issue.

Octopus have told you that they consider the refund of former Avro customers credit balances to be "a seperate process", and presumably will continue that stance.

As you are currently paying Octopus via DD, they will probably not be too concerned at this point. I'm not sure when they will review that DD amount which is presumably too low anyway unless you agreed a new level since Avro went bust (as the Octopus tariff is higher than what you would have had with Avro).

Unless you act now, you will have to wait up to 8 weeks when you do decide to cite the issue quite forcefully before being able to take it further. The OS then usually takes at least 2-3 months to consider your complaint.

So that could be 5 months away from Octopus saying they intend to increase your DD.


Remember, the cost of your energy on your current tariff will almost certainly be increasing again in just over 3 months. i.e. w.e.f. 01 April 2022.

MWT

booshya said:

MWT said:

booshya said:

I suggest you raise a complaint against Octopus. That will start the 8 week clock ticking as to them resolving it. Apparently Octopus have put some of their senior management up in hotels close to the Avro offices to get all this resolved. I sometimes wonder what they are actually doing there?
Perhaps chewing the cud in the hotel bar?

Not perhaps the most helpful advice.

The Ombudsman is not going to get involved in a complaint regarding the SoLR process while the process is still in progress, and a compliant is not going to get one person moved up the queue when they are dealing with over half a million customers being transferred...

Closed accounts details will get transferred to Octopus eventually, but they are usually the last to be done so it is still rather early to be playing the 'complaint' card.

I'm not expecting anyone to be "moved up the queue", but rather to encourage Octopus to get their finger out.

Shifting over 500,000 accounts was never going to be fast, especially when the administrators of the failed company control the speed of the proses to a significant degree.

A complaint that cannot progress or be referred to the Ombudsman isn't really going to help, or provide any 'encouragement' but I'm sure that will not stop people trying...