AVRO credit lost

ejv

I had £483 credit with AVRO on 3/11/2021.I had given monthly reading to AVRO , on 23rd Sept and they went bust 2 days later. Octopus has emailed me with the final bill from AVRO where they have said I used 2834 kWh electricity in a single day(from 25 Sept to 26th Sept)!!! I emailed Octopus with screen shots and readings, but they have washed their hands off, saying if AVRO had made any mistakes, it's not their responsibility.

Anyone else in the same boat?

QrizB

While your subject line is "AVRO credit lost", it seems your issue is that Avro have billed you for more electricity than you have used.

You're probasbly better off this way round, as you've paid in advance for electricity at Avro's rates, not Octopus's. 2800kWh at Octopus's prices would be £560 worth, so you're roughly £80 up on the deal.

Octopus will only be able to charge you their standing charge until your meter catches up with the Avro closing reading.

Depending on how much electricity you use, that could take a while.

dbks

ejv said:

I had £483 credit with AVRO on 3/11/2021.I had given monthly reading to AVRO , on 23rd Sept and they went bust 2 days later. Octopus has emailed me with the final bill from AVRO where they have said I used 2834 kWh electricity in a single day(from 25 Sept to 26th Sept)!!! I emailed Octopus with screen shots and readings, but they have washed their hands off, saying if AVRO had made any mistakes, it's not their responsibility.

Anyone else in the same boat?

Do I understand you correctly?
(Maybe I haven't as I don't understand why you suggest Avro assumed you used 2834 kWh in just one day? How did Avro get a meter reading for 25-Sep-2021? But I'll crack on the best I can until you clarify matters)

You gave a meter reading to Avro on 23-Sep-2021?
That meter reading was accepted and included in your final bill, but your final bill to 26-Sep-2021 was based on an estimated reading that was 2834kWh more than the reading you provided on 23-Sep-2021?

That sounds a lot. That sounds like a huge amount. In fact it's almost the annual usage of an average customer.
That being the case, how does the current meter reading compare to that Avro used to bill you up to?  Presumably the current reading is still no where near the reading Avro estimated?

Whilst you would probably be better off being charged the lower rate that Avro would have charged compared to what Octopus would charge you, that would not be correct, would it?

You say you have contacted Octopus about this and they responded "if AVRO had made any mistakes, it's not their responsibility"?

Presumably Octopus have not accepted any opening meter read from you yet, as your meter is reading significantly less than what Avro have billed you up to?

I would suggest you make a formal complaint and ask for a deadlock letter unless Octopus are prepared to withdraw that response and get their finger out.
Unfortunately, I very much doubt Octopus will issue you with a deadlock letter. This is Octopus we are talking about after all. So wait 8 weeks after the complaint is raised, and then take it to the ombudsman, citing not only the shortfall in their customer service over the error, but also their shartfall in customer service in prologging the resolution of the complaint by refusing to issue a deadlck letter when they clearly a deadlock status had arisen.

Hopefully a nice bill from the ombudsman will assist Octopus in improving their customer service. They were once said to have had excellent customer service, but not now.

In the meantime, prepare your complaint to the ombudsman and gather your evidence, including a dated photo of your meter as it reads today.

MWT

ejv said:

I had £483 credit with AVRO on 3/11/2021.I had given monthly reading to AVRO , on 23rd Sept and they went bust 2 days later. Octopus has emailed me with the final bill from AVRO where they have said I used 2834 kWh electricity in a single day(from 25 Sept to 26th Sept)!!! I emailed Octopus with screen shots and readings, but they have washed their hands off, saying if AVRO had made any mistakes, it's not their responsibility.

Was that a response from avro@octopus.com, or from the normal CS contact address?

[Deleted User]

@QrizB is correct. The gaining supplier’s data collector has provided Avro’s administrator with a switch reading. Provided Avro and Octopus use the same reading to close and open your accounts, I would just accept the situation for what it is. Octopus will not charge you for any units until your meter index passes the opening reading.  

As the complaint relates to a Final Bill from a failed supplier, I doubt that The Energy Ombudsman has the means at its disposal to carry out a fair appraisal. Moreover, it may not accept an escalated complaint as it has no enforcement powers to force Avro to re-issue a Final Bill.

ajhankmos

Similar situation for me in that I appear to have lost my credit balance and now apparently owe Octopus money. In June I mistyped my Gas reading which inflated my July bill. It changed a £360 credit to a £270 debt. I submitted the correct reading the following month and emailed Avro but no bill materialised on the website for August and had no reply from Avro. Then in September I submitted meter readings again when they went bust. Had my final bill from Avro and all the readings are estimated and from the inflated incorrect reading from June! I contacted Octopus giving a detailed explanation of events and photographic evidence of my gas meter reading. However they have said they aren’t liable and can’t change anything before 26th Sept but they can make sure my readings are correct on my Octopus account as they can see the closing reading from Avro is high. I’ve to send current readings as of today to them.  I can’t quite believe I’ve lost all my credit! If I give my current readings and Octopus update their systems with this I’ll be paying for the gas twice won’t I? From reading other posts it seems the usual complaints/ombudsman route isn’t available to us as Avro no longer trade? 

MWT

ajhankmos said:

I can’t quite believe I’ve lost all my credit! If I give my current readings and Octopus update their systems with this I’ll be paying for the gas twice won’t I? From reading other posts it seems the usual complaints/ombudsman route isn’t available to us as Avro no longer trade? 

You haven't lost anything, you've just ended up pre-paying for energy you have not yet used.

As long as Octopus use the same reading to open your account with them then you will not be paying for any more gas until the real reading passes the incorrect one.

ajhankmos

MWT said:

ajhankmos said:

I can’t quite believe I’ve lost all my credit! If I give my current readings and Octopus update their systems with this I’ll be paying for the gas twice won’t I? From reading other posts it seems the usual complaints/ombudsman route isn’t available to us as Avro no longer trade? 

You haven't lost anything, you've just ended up pre-paying for energy you have not yet used.

As long as Octopus use the same reading to open your account with them then you will not be paying for any more gas until the real reading passes the incorrect one.

Thanks for clarifying for me, that’s reassuring to know. Yes, the first reading on my Octopus account matches the estimated final one on Avro. Octopus have had two more from me for Oct and Nov that have been logged correctly. What has confused me is that on my Octopus account it’s now showing a small credit balance, but there is an ‘Avro repayment plan’ section that has my outstanding Avro debt balance from the final statement with a link attached to make a payment. It appears they are keeping the balances separate and not merging the figures. 

MWT

ajhankmos said:

... but there is an ‘Avro repayment plan’ section that has my outstanding Avro debt balance from the final statement with a link attached to make a payment. It appears they are keeping the balances separate and not merging the figures. 

That would make sense.

Octopus have agreed to help Avro with their debt collection process, thus doesn't always happen with a SoLR, but has been agreed in this case.

They will need to keep the matters separate though, so good to see it is being tracked like that.

wild666

ejv said:

I had £483 credit with AVRO on 3/11/2021.I had given monthly reading to AVRO , on 23rd Sept and they went bust 2 days later. Octopus has emailed me with the final bill from AVRO where they have said I used 2834 kWh electricity in a single day(from 25 Sept to 26th Sept)!!! I emailed Octopus with screen shots and readings, but they have washed their hands off, saying if AVRO had made any mistakes, it's not their responsibility.

Anyone else in the same boat?

That's nearly one kWh per minute! What is your usage? The kWh rate I was on for Avro was 14.91p, that's £422.55. Usage would have being 59.04 kWh per hours 0.98 kWh per minute. 
This could be classed as fraud unless both party's have agreed to the readings, Avro & Octopus, The problem is that your Octopus bills might incur charges if the Avro reading is correct on the units used up to the end of the 25th but Avro are billing for previous usage that you have paid for.
If the meter is reading 12345 and the Avro bill is claiming 15179 then you won't pay for any electric, only standing charges,  until the meter passes 15179, these charges are likely to be around £8 per month.