Avro Energy vs Octopus: Which is Cheaper?

Making a choice between Avro Energy or Octopus as your next energy supplier means that you will want to know which of these gas and electricity companies offers the best price and the best service. You'll find out which has the lowest cost tariff and who performs the best in terms of customer service.

Octopus Energy is a larger supplier than Avro being classed as a large supplier (one of 8 in the UK) since 2020 whereas Avro Energy is classed as a medium supplier (one of 5 in the UK).

The main difference between the two suppliers is that Avro does not supply renewable electricity or offset gas whilst Octopus has 100% renewable energy as standard and their Super Green Octopus tariff has also has 100% carbon offset gas.

I have only shown the currently available tariffs from both providers that are available if you were to get a quote direct from their respective websites. Octopus does offer 3 additional tariffs, 2 of which require you to have a smart meter installed if you do not already have one. That's the Octopus Go tariff for electric vehicle owners and the Agile Octopus which changes price every half hour.

I will however mention the Octopus Tracker tariff but add the caveat that this is not a standard fixed or variable tariff as the prices can go up and down more frequently that a standard variable rate energy tariff.

More details are provided further on in this comparison as it is a tariff worth mentioning in more detail as it is about £10 a month cheaper than Avro Energy and cheaper than any tariff available on energy comparison sites.

Lowest Price	£80.05/month	£88.04/month
100% Green Cost	n/a	£88.04/month
Range of tariffs	1 Tariff	6 Tariffs
Electricity	Standard	100% Renewable
Gas	standard	100% offset
Trustpilot rating	4.6/5	4.8/5
Exit fees	None	None

Avro or Octopus for the cheapest price?

Most customers are going to want to switch to a traditional energy tariff such as a fixed price energy deal offered by both suppliers where the unit price for the gas and electricity that you use stays fixed, in this instance for 1 year as offered by both suppliers.

Based on a like for like price comparison then Avro Energy offers the cheapest fixed energy tariff with their Simple and Saver 12M costing £80.05 a month for a typical UK household. It works out about £8 a month cheaper than Octopus's cheapest tariff and about £14 cheaper than the equivalent Octopus Fixed tariff which carries the same 1 year fixed price period.

For most people based purely on how much it is going to cost you each month for your gas and electricity where you are only concerned with getting the cheapest price then the Avro Energy Simple and Saver 12M tariff is the lowest priced deal of the two suppliers.

If you are looking for a broader price comparison then you can compare using an energy comparison service to find the current cheapest deals across all energy providers.

In a comparison of Avro Energy vs Octopus then Avro wins out on price, both suppliers have similar good levels of customer feedback but Avro does not supply renewable energy.

Octopus Energy Tracker tariff

I purposefully left out the Octopus Tracker tariff as it works differently from other tariffs available on the UK market but is available to all households even without a smart meter.

It's worth mentioning as it is currently the cheapest deal on the market at only £70.66 a month and about £10 cheaper a month than the lowest priced Avro tariff that I've just told you is the cheapest from the two energy companies.

So why have I excluded it from this comparison between Octopus and Avro?

As the Tracker tariff tracks the wholesale market price it means that there can potentially be dramatic price fluctuations. Most people just want to pay a relatively stable monthly direct debit for their gas and electricity and won't be prepared for a big jump in their monthly costs.

However if you understand the risks you could potentially save hundreds of pounds a year compared to most other tariffs on the market.

A tracker tariff works much like a variable rate tariff but the prices change daily. If you have a standard (non-smart) meter they will average your energy usage by day for the month. It means that generally you will be paying less than the Big Six, at the time of this review the quote for Tracker was £70.66 a month which is about £2 a month lower than the cheapest market wide tariff.

The Tracker tariff is worth investigating if you are the sort of person who pays more attention to their energy usage as you can also save even more by putting off using high powered appliances like using the washing machine or tumble dryer for days when the wholesale price is cheaper.

It is not a tariff for someone who just wants to switch and forget. You'd be better of with Avro's 12 month fixed tariff where your prices will be relatively cheap and stable for the next year.

Octopus Energy is not as cheap as Avro but they have 100% renewable energy and some innovative tariffs that could could save proactive customers more money.

Avro vs Octopus: Customer Service

Both Avro Energy and Octopus are two of the best rated energy suppliers in the UK with consistently good customer feedback.

The Trustpilot ratings as of April 2021 put Avro Energy at 4.6 out of 5 with 55.371 reviews and a 4% bad feedback rating compared to Octopus Energy with a rating of 4.8 out of 5 with 53,263 reviews and a 3% bad feedback rating.

There is not a significant difference between the two suppliers based on Trustpilot scores, at least not enough to say one supplier is clearly better than the other. At these high levels of positive feedback you are pretty safe with either supplier although Octopus performs very slightly better.

Ofgem also tracks official complaints against suppliers in the UK so this is useful data to include rather than just relying on Trustpilot data.

Based on the most recently available Ofgem data for Q4 of 2020 it shows that Octopus received 507 complaints per 100,000 customers. Of all the large UK suppliers this is the lowest level of officially registered complaints from customers with half as few complaints compared to the next best large supplier.

The data for the same period shows that Avro Energy received 166 complaints per 100,000 customers. A figure much lower than Octopus making Avro Energy better based on fewer complaints.

Of the complaints they managed to resolve 88% of them by the end of the next working day and 99% of complaints were resolved within 8 weeks.

Octopus Energy resolved 59% of complaints by the end of the next working day and 92% within 8 weeks.

In a choice between Octopus and Avro based on official complaints and the rate at which issues are resolved then Avro Energy performs much better.

On balance Avro is a slightly better choice but the difference in the big scheme of things is neither here nor there. The difference is not significant considering we are comparing two of the best gas and electricity suppliers that both outperform 90% of the other energy providers based on service.

Is Octopus or Avro Energy better?

For most a switch to Avro Energy would be the best option with their cheaper prices and great level of customer service.

If however green renewable energy is an important factor or you are looking to potentially be able to save more with one of Octopus Energy's innovative tariffs such as Octopus Tracker then they are worth considering.

Can I get a better deal from another supplier?

Energy suppliers do not get good or go bad overnight but prices do change quite regularly. We regularly update and publish the best gas and electric deals and tell you which suppliers currently have the best prices along with good customer support.