Avro / Octopus final bill

MM2002

Hi all, I was over £1100 in credit with Avro the day before they went under. Luckily I took a meter reading that day and emailed them asking for a refund of this amount and a re-evaluation as i felt i was obviously over-paying. No reply was sent as the next day they went into administration and the fun began for me to get my money back.

After numerous emails and phone call to Octopus(Who i must say answer within 10 mins, and always polite) I was told I was only £199.43 in credit!! The rest of the money was swallowed up in the 'Final Bill' with an 'Estimated' meter reading on the 26th Sept. Octopus say Avro was bad at not taking payments on-time, probably partly why they went under, but my question is should they have taken this money, and why did I not see a final bill until Octopus requested it? The statement date showing on this final bill is the 29th Sept, 3 days after they went bust. All this info only came after my chasing, at the end of march 2022, 6 months after Avro went.

I'm sure many other Avro customers have probably found this to be the same with them? Is this all above board, or do I have any chance to claim my £1100+ credit showing on the account?

MWT

MM2002 said:

I'm sure many other Avro customers have probably found this to be the same with them? Is this all above board, or do I have any chance to claim my £1100+ credit showing on the account?

You can only answer that by looking at your previous bill, and noting the closing meter reading on that bill compared to the final meter reading...

If they had not billed you for a while and let the consumption build up until the final meter reading and bill then it is entirely plausible that your credit was dramatically overstated...

So do you have that prior bill?

MM2002

MWT said:

...

If they had not billed you for a while and let the consumption build up until the final meter reading and bill then it is entirely plausible that your credit was dramatically overstated...

So do you have that prior bill?

Surely a company shouldn't let a bill 'build up'? Sounds very unprofessional. Octopus told me no money had been taken for months. I was only paying £156 a month, now gone up to £210

All bills are available, only by contacting Octopus now though. Did others that have credit find there bill suddenly 'paid off' on the day of administration?

pochase

That is not unusual at all.

For example both EDF and BG only send a bill every 6 months. During the six month your credit will just get bigger and bigger, until it goes down after you receive the bill. And it is not a bill that builds up, it is a credit.

I agree that it is not good for a customer not to know where he stands, but that is the way they work and it is completely legal. 

That is the sense of a final bill, that all your payments and all your use will be calculated and either you are left with a credit or a debt.

And the better the direct  debit review of the supplier was, the smaller the debt or credit.

Was the estimated reading in the final bill correct or far off? Not that it really matter as long as Octopus uses this reading as a their start reading.