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

bagand96

masonic said:

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.

Like you I was with Yorkshire Energy.  Final Bill with them to 05/12/2020.  Scottish Power (SoLR) I only had one bill 06/12/2020 - 27/01/2020. So around 7 weeks on SoLR, but I can't remember how quick off the mark I was with the switch in that case.

Later I was PFP - final bill to 11/09/21.  British Gas were the SoLR who I was with until 25/11/2021 so around 10 weeks in this case.  However BG were a shambles and from memory I think there was a chunk of energy they never billed for.  

In both of those I followed the Ofgem advice and waited for the SoLR transfer to take place.  I also waited until I had an active online account set up with the SoLR before initiating another switch.  That definitely delayed both and I wouldn't bother again.

I remember reading the "brave" people who got ahead of the SoLR against advice and it did work out for them.  I would do that next time round, as you say @masonic it should be even easier with the faster switching.  Remembering to keep good records, meter reads with timestamped photos etc

WibbleBaaaaaa

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.

Yeah, i mean the fear mongering going on will not help in the slightest, even after the CEO makes a offical statement, that seems for some not good enough, and they see boogie men in the shadows as they push speculation with not one iota of actual evidence to prove what the CEO of TE said was in anyway false, and let me just add the same mob swore blind that TE would be gone by September 2024, then Octoner, then November, and so on........and it is the same on the Octopus reddit, i have never seen so many who seem to want a energy company to fail, and one they are not even with, just stunning to see people hoping their predictions come true, i just cannot fathom out that mentality.

WBCPB

bagand96 said:

masonic said:

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.

Like you I was with Yorkshire Energy.  Final Bill with them to 05/12/2020.  Scottish Power (SoLR) I only had one bill 06/12/2020 - 27/01/2020. So around 7 weeks on SoLR, but I can't remember how quick off the mark I was with the switch in that case.

Later I was PFP - final bill to 11/09/21.  British Gas were the SoLR who I was with until 25/11/2021 so around 10 weeks in this case.  However BG were a shambles and from memory I think there was a chunk of energy they never billed for.  

In both of those I followed the Ofgem advice and waited for the SoLR transfer to take place.  I also waited until I had an active online account set up with the SoLR before initiating another switch.  That definitely delayed both and I wouldn't bother again.

I remember reading the "brave" people who got ahead of the SoLR against advice and it did work out for them.  I would do that next time round, as you say @masonic it should be even easier with the faster switching.  Remembering to keep good records, meter reads with timestamped photos etc

I have been on SOLR 3 times and have yet to follow the advice of the failed OFGEM company to wait before initiating a switch, and all 3 switches went as planned.

TroubledTarts

WibbleBaaaaaa 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.

Yeah, i mean the fear mongering going on will not help in the slightest, even after the CEO makes a offical statement, that seems for some not good enough, and they see boogie men in the shadows as they push speculation with not one iota of actual evidence to prove what the CEO of TE said was in anyway false, and let me just add the same mob swore blind that TE would be gone by September 2024, then Octoner, then November, and so on........and it is the same on the Octopus reddit, i have never seen so many who seem to want a energy company to fail, and one they are not even with, just stunning to see people hoping their predictions come true, i just cannot fathom out that mentality.

Another way to look at it, is balanced views weighing up the good and bad.

Many don't have the time or inclination to lookup the status of a supplier, their history, issues so it's good to have both sides.

As an example and just one of many

The optimistic view that, despite volatile electricity prices these past three months, that Tomato for planned how many new customers they would take on and bought before the prices shot up

The pessimistic view, they didn't plan and buy well and they are now in serious financial trouble. The old addage if something is too good to be true it usually is.

Many people coming to this site won't even know a single thing about hedging or how suppliers purchase energy and they mostly don't care. But when it comes to a startup, in the domestic market where they have never sold energy as cheaply in the commercial market as they are doing in their domestic business then these things need to be questioned and considered.

The prices are great and our toe in the water (one of our rentals) is on intensity fixed for a year. But I am not blind to the issues Tomato are facing, not blind to the fact the tariff is hugely underpriced and so have the knowledge to do what is best at the right time.

Blind following tends to not end well.

In the mean time the ride has been good over winter and let's see what the future brings. 

Gerry1

bagand96 said:
I remember reading the "brave" people who got ahead of the SoLR against advice and it did work out for them.  I would do that next time round, as you say @masonic it should be even easier with the faster switching.  Remembering to keep good records, meter reads with timestamped photos etc

Yes, I was one of them; I seemed to be the Kiss of Death – just about every small cheap supplier to whom I had switched subsequently went bust !

The official advice had always been to stay put and await developments, but I'd been with the first supplier to collapse (GB Energy Supply) so I'd become well versed with the very slow SoLR processes.  I knew it would always take quite a while for the transfer to the SoLR to complete, and that it would be to one of the big boys whose prices wouldn't be competitive, so I jumped ship the moment that I heard that Symbio had gone bust.

Symbio were awfully cheap (= awful, but cheap) with a weirdly incomprehensible billing system.  It took four days before E.On Next took over as the SoLR.  IIRC I took meter readings, did the sums and made a one-off payment to clear the account.  It worked, and I never ended up as an E.On next customer.

I strongly agree with the advice to keep good records.  I'd been with Neon Reef for quite a while; they'd been very good and kept their low fixed price long after it had expired.  Eventually they had to raise their prices so I reluctantly left them and paid in full, long before they went bust.

Later on I was with BG.  Everything about BG was (and still remains) completely shambolic, especially the billing systems.  They have a habit of wiping out all previous bills and replacing them with new ones, so without good records you haven’t a chance.  I'd been with BG for some time when I noticed that they had quietly changed my start date, wrongly showing it as several months earlier so I was paying twice; there was no notification or explanation whatsoever.  BG had been the SoLR for Neon Reef and BG's computer kept insisting that I'd joined when NR went bust, even I'd left NR several months before. They provided a refund but couldn't stop their computer endlessly making the same mistake.

Eventually BG made a one-off payment to cancel out the overcharge.  I held out for compo of £100 for all the aggro and got it.  I wonder how many others have been similarly overcharged and haven't realised?

wrf12345

I am sure BG has a top notch AI system in command of their accounting and will make whatever adjustments are needed to keep the company afloat...

Chrysalis

It is worth bearing in mind the issues at TE with their backend is variable depending on the customer.

Some people have had no bills or readings at all for months, if I was one of those people I probably would have moved away, I think the only reason to stay in that situation is you have cash flow problems, and are relying on the fact you currently in the short term are not paying for energy, taking advantage of it.  But that will catch up with them, if there was a SOLR situation, I expect they would be caught up on the latest SVR tariff for the entire duration of that time.  It is a unrealistic expectation that the period will be written off. 

This is why I made a fuss when I first joined, I didnt join TE to not pay bills, and have no usage recorded, it was with the expectation to keep paying for my energy on a batter tariff.  Now its working I am reasonably satisfied. 
There is also many customers (I assume is most of the new switchers) getting bills ok, but there is still clear delays before mywatts starts working for some people. 
I also see some people are still getting switched today, so looks like TE havent aborted pending switches.  (at least not all of them)

I think its a very negative thing to now act as if we assume its about to go bang, there seems to be a lot of risk aversion amongst brits and a fear of the worst all the time.  But I would be considering moving away for sure if I was one of those with nothing happening for months. 

For what its worth Octopus billing system has broken for me, it looks like when they reissued my gas bill, it didnt trigger a VDD payment, so I have some balance with no pending DD to pay for it, which I will fix with a manual payment.

HillStreetBlues

If transferred to SOLR when do the prices change?

WibbleBaaaaaa

^^100% spot on, and TE for me have been nothing but smooth and working transition out the starting gate, unlike my switch to Octopus who i joined to try their agile tariff, and who installed a smart meter, which then broke after 6 weeks, and then it took Octopus another 5 months to replace, while of course they charged me at the higher varible rate, so compared to Octopus, TE has been a 100% impovement when switching supplier.

masonic

HillStreetBlues said:

If transferred to SOLR when do the prices change?

You would be put on a deemed contract on the date of the failure, which would be before you transferred to SoLR. This is why a meter reading is required right at the start of the process.