Avro final bill errors

rjm2k1

Just got my final bill from Avro, from what I can see they have over charged me around £600 over the course of the year for electricity (3396kwh).  The submitted vs estimated values started to depart around january 21.

I never really checked my electronic statements, but when they went bust I downloaded them all and waited for the final bill, this is when it became obvious that the readings I submitted and have records of  from the avro site weren't being used to calculate the bills, instead they list all figures as Estimated.   At some point they sent a message saying my use was higher than their estimates so the direct debit would go up, I didn't think anything of that at the time.

Has anyone else checked their avro bills against the meter?  The final  gas reading is slightly out but just a matter of pence.

The result of this is that the new supplier believes my meter started way ahead of where it is in reality, I have already submitted readings to them too,

What on earth happens now?  

MWT

rjm2k1 said:

The result of this is that the new supplier believes my meter started way ahead of where it is in reality, I have already submitted readings to them too,

What on earth happens now?  

What was their closing meter reading and what is your current meter reading?

This is one occasion where you may not want to fight it too hard as although it is inaccurate, Octopus are going to be using their closing reading as your opening reading so you will not pay twice for the same energy and it will be cheaper to have pre-paid at Avro than to be paying at the current Octopus prices...

... but if you want it to be corrected you should let Octopus know about the problem and see if they want to fix it... (avro@octopus.energy) 

rjm2k1

hi I provided a closing actual reading of 16812, avro based the final bill on 19690 and the current reading is 17952 so I can't imagine I can get away with paying nothing to Octopus until it catches up!

I've emailed octopus explaining that the transfer balance is based on an incorrect estimate rather than the true readings which I provided. 

Quite interested to see if others were being overcharged in this way.....

MWT

It sadly became rather normal for the failing suppliers to be creatively estimating to boost cash-flow...

wild666

I would always submit readings on the billing date as the first reading, when they emailed to say submit readings, which I did within 48 hours was an estimated reading in Feb 2021 was over my actual usage.
Avro couldn't read my SMETS 1 meter that's why I submitted readings on the billing date, they used those readings. 
When they went under, I submitted readings on the 23/9/21 and the 26/9/21 and they used the 23/9/21 reading for my final bill even though the 26/9/21 reading was about £4.50 more for electric but nothing on the gas as the figures were the same for gas, minus the red figures, as they day they went under. The Extra £4.70 used between the 23rd and the 26th I will pay if they dispute it.

[Deleted User]

rjm2k1 said:

hi I provided a closing actual reading of 16812, avro based the final bill on 19690 and the current reading is 17952 so I can't imagine I can get away with paying nothing to Octopus until it catches up!

I've emailed octopus explaining that the transfer balance is based on an incorrect estimate rather than the true readings which I provided. 

Quite interested to see if others were being overcharged in this way.....

If the two suppliers agree the change of supply reading, then the consumer will not pay any unit charges until the meter index reading passes the agreed opening reading. If the meter reading differs from the opening reading by 250kWhs, then an Agreed Readings Dispute can be initiated; however, it requires both suppliers to be trading to be effective.

Armengar

mine were all correct. then again I submitted monthly as ive been screwed over before.

DerektheDonkey

Just as an addition to this. i am having discussions with Octopus at the moment.

I joined Avro only in August 2021, then of course they went bust.

I gave them a gas reading of 14457 ignoring the red letters. Avro registered this as  1640. I contacted them but as they were going bust they never replied.

Octopus are now issuing estimated gas bills using a reading of 1650, not their fault. I have advised my gas meter currently reads 14612.

wakeupalarm

DerektheDonkey said:

Just as an addition to this. i am having discussions with Octopus at the moment.

I joined Avro only in August 2021, then of course they went bust.

I gave them a gas reading of 14457 ignoring the red letters. Avro registered this as  1640. I contacted them but as they were going bust they never replied.

Octopus are now issuing estimated gas bills using a reading of 1650, not their fault. I have advised my gas meter currently reads 14612.

You will have a £6000 or £17000 (depending on m3 or ft3) bill at current rates to look forward to when Octopus come back with the "there is nothing we can do" response.  Or double those figures if they issue a bill after next April.

DerektheDonkey

wakeupalarm said:

DerektheDonkey said:

Just as an addition to this. i am having discussions with Octopus at the moment.

I joined Avro only in August 2021, then of course they went bust.

I gave them a gas reading of 14457 ignoring the red letters. Avro registered this as  1640. I contacted them but as they were going bust they never replied.

Octopus are now issuing estimated gas bills using a reading of 1650, not their fault. I have advised my gas meter currently reads 14612.

You will have a £6000 or £17000 (depending on m3 or ft3) bill at current rates to look forward to when Octopus come back with the "there is nothing we can do" response.  Or double those figures if they issue a bill after next April.

Thank you, that made me laugh.

I have already had a response in which they believe they explained it, they had not. I since wrote back telling them I understand their words but that it does not apply to my situation. I told them i will pay electricity, I did that today, but until they resolve the gas readings I'll not pay a penny.

Interestingly, in the Octopus letter they told me they had estimated because "my usage had been extraordinarily out of sync with normal usage". You don't say, using their readings they would be..

I was quite fortunate that I cancelled my Avro direct debit when I knew they'd gone bust and have yet to set one up with Octopus. 

I am happy to pay but only the right amount. If this gets troublesome I will involve OFGEM.

MWT

DerektheDonkey said:

I am happy to pay but only the right amount. If this gets troublesome I will involve OFGEM.

What did the final invoice from Avro show for the gas usage?

With such a low meter reading did it trigger a large refund, and what was the previous meter reading?

Ofgem isn't going to be much help though, they don't deal with individual cases, and the Ombudsman can't deal with problems with the failed suppliers, but hopefully it isn't going to come to that.