Tomato Energy (Electric Only Supplier) - Too Good To Be True ?

tlcgrantham

masonic said:

lohr500 said:

GingerTim said:

Newbie_John said:

They'll eventually file them.

Anyway, if they survive - we continue enjoying 5p, if they don't - we come back where we came from. 

As for now, all is the same.

There is another risk if they do go bust and you are still with them - you will be moved to a supplier of last resort, almost certainly onto the standard variable tariff and be stuck on that for a while until the process is complete and you can switch away to another supplier. That might be alright for some, but if you are charging an EV or battery overnight and at cheaper periods etc then it could get expensive.

Of course that we're heading into summer lessens the risk for those with storage heaters - and it depends on who the potential SOLR would be.

And in the event of TE collapsing, is there a risk of possible protracted discussions with the administrators on the value of the outstanding debt for electricity consumed whilst with TE, especially if the half hourly data is unavailable for whatever reason?

What tends to happen is SoLR buys the debt from the administrators for some number of pennies in the pound and they become responsible for final billing. It still does introduce some risk, especially given lack of meter readings being used/recorded.

Recently MyWatts I have started showing daily meter readings which seem correct and harmonise with my IHD readings 

masonic

tlcgrantham said:

masonic said:

lohr500 said:

GingerTim said:

Newbie_John said:

They'll eventually file them.

Anyway, if they survive - we continue enjoying 5p, if they don't - we come back where we came from. 

As for now, all is the same.

There is another risk if they do go bust and you are still with them - you will be moved to a supplier of last resort, almost certainly onto the standard variable tariff and be stuck on that for a while until the process is complete and you can switch away to another supplier. That might be alright for some, but if you are charging an EV or battery overnight and at cheaper periods etc then it could get expensive.

Of course that we're heading into summer lessens the risk for those with storage heaters - and it depends on who the potential SOLR would be.

And in the event of TE collapsing, is there a risk of possible protracted discussions with the administrators on the value of the outstanding debt for electricity consumed whilst with TE, especially if the half hourly data is unavailable for whatever reason?

What tends to happen is SoLR buys the debt from the administrators for some number of pennies in the pound and they become responsible for final billing. It still does introduce some risk, especially given lack of meter readings being used/recorded.

Recently MyWatts I have started showing daily meter readings which seem correct and harmonise with my IHD readings 

That's encouraging. This is my main (only?) area of dissatisfaction, so hopefully I just need to be patient and it will be addressed for me too.

TroubledTarts

Newbie_John said:

GingerTim said:
There is another risk if they do go bust and you are still with them - you will be moved to a supplier of last resort, almost certainly onto the standard variable tariff and be stuck on that for a while until the process is complete and you can switch away to another supplier. That might be alright for some, but if you are charging an EV or battery overnight and at cheaper periods etc then it could get expensive.

Of course that we're heading into summer lessens the risk for those with storage heaters - and it depends on who the potential SOLR would be.

I honestly think the SOLR issue is really exagerated here.
You can see here that the process is quite quick:
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/blog/how-youre-protected-when-energy-firms-collapse

Per average takes 3 days from company collapsing to being assigned to another provider - most of us came from Octopus and there is a chance we will be moved back there. 
The issues from 2021 were mostly due to - the number of companies going down one by one, and that they kept people balances. Not a single Electricity provider collapsed in 3 years (so OFGEM should be able to handle any new case quickly) and TE doesn't keep any money balances  - so it shoudl all go swiftly.

Also have a read on the thread about Outfox the Market electricity provider - it is so so similar to this one, it just lasts from 2022 - solr, solr, solr, be careful, should collpase soon, no new customers,.. and in 2025 they're still going on.

I suspect the SOLR process, should it happen to Tomato, would be a mess.

They have not been recording smart meter readings just usage, it appears they don't have anything for smets1 meters and you can only imagine the mess behind the scenes that a SOLR would have to sort out.

That combined with the weird tomatopia solar and battery and energy package? How does that sit with a SOLR?

Might not be as easy or quick as expected.

WBCPB

TroubledTarts said:

Newbie_John said:

GingerTim said:
There is another risk if they do go bust and you are still with them - you will be moved to a supplier of last resort, almost certainly onto the standard variable tariff and be stuck on that for a while until the process is complete and you can switch away to another supplier. That might be alright for some, but if you are charging an EV or battery overnight and at cheaper periods etc then it could get expensive.

Of course that we're heading into summer lessens the risk for those with storage heaters - and it depends on who the potential SOLR would be.

I honestly think the SOLR issue is really exagerated here.
You can see here that the process is quite quick:
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/blog/how-youre-protected-when-energy-firms-collapse

Per average takes 3 days from company collapsing to being assigned to another provider - most of us came from Octopus and there is a chance we will be moved back there. 
The issues from 2021 were mostly due to - the number of companies going down one by one, and that they kept people balances. Not a single Electricity provider collapsed in 3 years (so OFGEM should be able to handle any new case quickly) and TE doesn't keep any money balances  - so it shoudl all go swiftly.

Also have a read on the thread about Outfox the Market electricity provider - it is so so similar to this one, it just lasts from 2022 - solr, solr, solr, be careful, should collpase soon, no new customers,.. and in 2025 they're still going on.

I suspect the SOLR process, should it happen to Tomato, would be a mess.

They have not been recording smart meter readings just usage, it appears they don't have anything for smets1 meters and you can only imagine the mess behind the scenes that a SOLR would have to sort out.

That combined with the weird tomatopia solar and battery and energy package? How does that sit with a SOLR?

Might not be as easy or quick as expected.

I am taking daily meter time stamped photos ready to submit to the administrators.

QrizB

TroubledTarts said:

That combined with the weird tomatopia solar and battery and energy package? How does that sit with a SOLR?

One of the energy cos that failed in 2021 - Social Energy - had something similar. The solar-and-battery business got split off into a separate organisation and seems to now be part of Levelise.

TroubledTarts

QrizB said:

TroubledTarts said:

That combined with the weird tomatopia solar and battery and energy package? How does that sit with a SOLR?

One of the energy cos that failed in 2021 - Social Energy - had something similar. The solar-and-battery business got split off into a separate organisation and seems to now be part of Levelise.

Any idea how long social energy customers were in limbo.

With Symbio I think it was 13-14 weeks for us 

QrizB

TroubledTarts said:

QrizB said:

TroubledTarts said:

That combined with the weird tomatopia solar and battery and energy package? How does that sit with a SOLR?

One of the energy cos that failed in 2021 - Social Energy - had something similar. The solar-and-battery business got split off into a separate organisation and seems to now be part of Levelise.

Any idea how long social energy customers were in limbo.
With Symbio I think it was 13-14 weeks for us 

I'd need to search the forum and find a Social Energy thread from the period. But 3-4 months sounds typical.

masonic

When OneSelect failed in mid Dec 2018, it took me 5 weeks to escape the evil clutches of Together Energy.

When Yorkshire Energy failed in early Dec 2020, it took me 6 weeks to escape ScottishPower.

In both instances I did not wait for an account to be set up for me, I started my switch as soon as I was able to do so (i.e. around 15 working days post-failure, when SoLR was listed as my supplier on the MPAS database). With 5 day switching, I suspect the process would be quicker.

There were people on both occasions who submitted a switch request on the day the failure was announced and got away in normal switch timescales, although some did have issues with attempts of the SoLR to switch them once they'd joined their new supplier.

lohr500

I do hope TE can sort out their issues. 

But the worry over being stuck on an SOLR for weeks was what caused me to leave the Tomato greenhouse back in November. That plus the possibility of not being able to grab a particularly attractive 12 month fix that matched my usage very well.

Some people had posted that they were able to move away from an SOR in a matter of days and that I was being overly concerned.

But if it took 5 weeks for OneSelect and 6 weeks for Yorkshire Energy, then perhaps I was right to be concerned, especially on a TOU tariff with issues over meter reads and previous incorrect or missing billing.

Every week on SVT would cost me around £60 extra compared to the weighted £0.07 unit cost I was on with TE at the time.

masonic

lohr500 said:

Some people had posted that they were able to move away from an SOR in a matter of days and that I was being overly concerned.

But if it took 5 weeks for OneSelect and 6 weeks for Yorkshire Energy, then perhaps I was right to be concerned, especially on a TOU tariff with issues over meter reads and previous incorrect or missing billing.

Every week on SVT would cost me around £60 extra compared to the weighted £0.07 unit cost I was on with TE at the time.

Once SoLR begins the process of claiming the supply (effectively a switch), other suppliers would be blocked from completing a switch to themselves until the supply is with SoLR. So you should assume that the minimum time to get away will be 2 x switching timescale. A switch previously took 15 working days, but can now be done in 4-5 calendar days. So best case scenario is 2 weeks, and worst case about 6 weeks.

The comparison that it would make sense to do is the one between SVT and best non-TE tariff you could get, and between TE and that same tariff.

For example, my best non-TE tariff is around 21p per unit, my TE average is about 12p at the moment (but won't remain this good), and SVT is going to be about 25p next month.

During the winter, while I was averaging 100 kWh/week, I was saving approx £9 per week vs the next best and £13 per week vs SVT. I've so far accumulated over £100 in savings vs next best.

Now winter has passed (ish), I am averaging closer to what I normally use in summer, 30 kWh/week, so SoLR would cost me £1.20 per week (difference between SVT and best non-TE option), and I expect to save about £5 per additional week they survive.

If they limp on until next winter and then go bust with me still on board, then it might cost me closer to £5 per week through SoLR with my higher 100 kWh/week usage.

So it really does depend on your current weighted cost having left TE. If this is closer to TE's cost than it is to SVT, then it perhaps makes sense to jump ship with the savings you've already made. For me I can't make significant savings vs SVT on any other tariff now.