How ex-footballer’s energy gamble ended up costing bill payers £700m

Collapse of Avro among those highlighted in MPs' damning report blaming much of fiasco on Ofgem

As customers of Avro Energy forked out for their gas and electricity direct debits, they had no idea that they were only postponing the death of a badly run business whose collapse would end up costing bill payers 700m.

Despite having no apparent background in the complex energy industry, Avro's founder, Jake Brown, a former non-league footballer, set up the company with a family loan in 2016. Within a few years of the company's entry into the market, Avro had amassed half a million customers while enriching Brown and his family along the way.