Avro to Octopus

Travismolly

I’m confused with it all. I was with Avro. Which Octopus took over. I paid £98 a month and some winter months I paid an extra £50 into the account if my bills were higher. 

I have continued to pay the Avro direct debit and received my final bill for the months of October to December which had £141 debit outstanding on the account. This would close the Avro account and I would start paying Octopus direct. 

I have now received a bill from Octopus for £337 for the same months I have paid Into the Avro account which means my bills have tripled. Am I being charged twice? I thought paying my usual direct debit then the debt on the account meant I start afresh with Octopus but I am hit with another bill. 

Anyone got any advice ? 

[Deleted User]

Travismolly said:

I’m confused with it all. I was with Avro. Which Octopus took over. I paid £98 a month and some winter months I paid an extra £50 into the account if my bills were higher. 

I have continued to pay the Avro direct debit and received my final bill for the months of October to December which had £141 debit outstanding on the account. This would close the Avro account and I would start paying Octopus direct. 

I have now received a bill from Octopus for £337 for the same months I have paid Into the Avro account which means my bills have tripled. Am I being charged twice? I thought paying my usual direct debit then the debt on the account meant I start afresh with Octopus but I am hit with another bill. 

Anyone got any advice ? 

Octopus was appointed SoLR on the 26th September and it is entitled to charge you for all energy it has supplied from this date. On the same date, Avro’s Supply Licence was revoked and the company went into administration. To open and close your accounts, you will/should have provided Octopus with a meter reading. Once validated, the reading would be used to close off your Avro account. I don’t understand why you think that Avro would bill you from October to December. It should have raised a Final Bill as of the 25th September which takes into account all charges due; the debit/credit balance and all DD payments that you have made.

Your bill from Octopus should take into account any Avro debit/credit balance on your account. This is why the Octopus bill might appear high. I suggest that you call Octopus and ask them to confirm how the bill has been calculated and whether the payments you made to Avro have been taken into account? If you can access your online Octopus bill they should be able to talk you through it.

scoffbelly

I moved house on 10th September 2021, I had instructed Avro prior to that date that I wished to transfer my energy account to my new address. Avro went bust on 22nd September 2021 and my instruction to transfer was acknowleged by Avro but never happened. Scottish Power supply to my new home and have since been billing me from my move in date of 10th September 2021. In the meantime I hadnt cancelled my direct debit with Avro as advised such that I now have a credit balance with Avro of £505.72 stuck in my Avro account. I've chased Octopus but they just say its all in process and will be refunded in due course but cannot give me a date. I' have of course now cancelled my DD with Avro which I wish I had done sooner. In the meantime I have had to pay Scottish power £609.91 for the energy I've used to date since moving house on 10th September, so I urgently need the £505.72 back from Avro so I can cover my Scottish Power debt. I spoke to Scottish Power about the situation and they weren't interested. I read I may be able to get the money back via my bank citing the direct debit mandate. I don't know if its worth doing this or waiting for Octopus to refund me?

[Deleted User]

scoffbelly said:

I moved house on 10th September 2021, I had instructed Avro prior to that date that I wished to transfer my energy account to my new address. Avro went bust on 22nd September 2021 and my instruction to transfer was acknowleged by Avro but never happened. Scottish Power supply to my new home and have since been billing me from my move in date of 10th September 2021. In the meantime I hadnt cancelled my direct debit with Avro as advised such that I now have a credit balance with Avro of £505.72 stuck in my Avro account. I've chased Octopus but they just say its all in process and will be refunded in due course but cannot give me a date. I' have of course now cancelled my DD with Avro which I wish I had done sooner. In the meantime I have had to pay Scottish power £609.91 for the energy I've used to date since moving house on 10th September, so I urgently need the £505.72 back from Avro so I can cover my Scottish Power debt. I spoke to Scottish Power about the situation and they weren't interested. I read I may be able to get the money back via my bank citing the direct debit mandate. I don't know if its worth doing this or waiting for Octopus to refund me?

You cannot transfer an existing energy account to a new address as the property already has an existing supplier. You were in a deemed contract with that supplier from the day that you became responsible for the property. The correct procedure is that you contact the deemed supplier when you move with meter readings and then you are free to initiate a switch back to your old supplier or ANOther. 

Avro’s SoLR will concentrate on reconciling the accounts of the customers that it has taken over before looking at the accounts of those who have switched or moved away. Only the SoLR can deal with this matter as it is making the payment not Avro. Sadly, closed accounts can take some months and there is no Ofgem timescale for these actions.

absolutely_skint

I havent had a final avro bill, but constantly paid my bill up to date and gave meter readings monthly. So you can imagine my surprise to find out from Octopus that I have apparently since 26th Sept used £1700 worth of gas and electricity (mostly electric!). I am in an end of terrace 3 bed! Some serious issues going on here I fear!

doglover34

absolutely_skint said:

I havent had a final avro bill, but constantly paid my bill up to date and gave meter readings monthly. So you can imagine my surprise to find out from Octopus that I have apparently since 26th Sept used £1700 worth of gas and electricity (mostly electric!). I am in an end of terrace 3 bed! Some serious issues going on here I fear!

Exactly the same with me ... I gave meter readings monthly to Avro and paid my DD, I was in credit by £280. Octopus have taken over and from September to December I now owe £691!!!! Ive contacted them and they advised that despite my giving of readings to Avro, my Avro bills were always estimated (an oversight by me when checking my bill)!!!!! Im fuming with myself!!  Ive upped my DD with Octopus but Im not sure how im gonna pay this back and with the increased energy prices its making me so stressed!

Tam_Pepper

Here I am 5 months later and I still haven't had a bill from Octopus

Big_Bopper

Reopened a very old profile to just comment on this. 
I too was with Avro, and in credit. I used to pay around £150 a month for gas and electric.

I got a lovely email from Octopus saying there was the transfer credit of around £300, and then my bill from Sept to Jan, which left my account in debit by around £150. I paid this immediately, leaving my account at zero, which was ideal.

Today, I received a new bill from Octopus for £300!?!?! Apparently this is just Jan - Feb, so one month has doubled??

Absolutely sick with worry, and wondered if anyone else has had this?

Thanks

MWT

Big_Bopper said:

Today, I received a new bill from Octopus for £300!?!?! Apparently this is just Jan - Feb, so one month has doubled??

Your bill will have the meter readings and dates on it, are they accurate?

However

I've just had an email from Octopus upping monthly amount from my calculated £130 to their calculated £138.23 re projected annual usage. I have no issue with that. They've also added £18.28 for six months to 'stabilise' the account due to today's debit level - part of which will have been caused by one skipped payment during the transfer from Avro to Octopus. Well, all right, slight grumble.

I suspect the April price cap rise will up the monthly amout by 54%, so £231.15 in total (inc the £18.28), and in October let's say up another 20%, now to £255 from then on.

I had only £13.01 debt with Avro which I've paid off, so my estimates are pretty good I think. I used to pay £85.90. That's very nearly an increase of three-times. I'm no different from anyone else, although everything is based on my meter readings with no estimates.

So far, Octopus' billing has been accurate. This tripling of costs is something we'll just have to deal with. My extra cost will be £2029.20 p.a.. This is the horrible reality that we had better get used to.

And forget the scuddy wee £200 loan-but-not-loan - it has to be paid back..

And now we are about to be skewered by increased petrol prices.