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

bristolleedsfan

JKS$( said:

I remain a very happy TE customer, but still having final bill issues with Octopus..

I've supplied photos of meter readings post switch & data usage from Glowmarkt & asked why they can't work backwards to provide a more accurate final bill. 

CS has ignored this question twice, but now says they'll provide a new final bill using the last photo meter reading, taken 11 days after the switch. 

Thinking about raising a formal complaint but before I do - is there any reason why a supplier can't work backwards from usage data to calculate a bill? Some weird regulation somewhere?

(brief recap - recently moved in & my energy use is much lower than previous occupant. Final bill was estimated using mostly her usage data. I don't have access to meter & rely on others to supply readings at their convenience)

You really need to find out what meter reading Tomato E opened with, my experience switching to handful of suppliers last year most gaining suppliers take Smart Meter reading on switch over date. Scottish Power take daily Smart Meter readings.

Worth putting in complaints to both suppliers, it was suggested week or more ago put complaint to Octopus rather than ping pong message/emails.

Useful post from Swipe -  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80838038/#Comment_80838038

You could ask Octopus to look on National Database to see what nearest meter reading is shown to your switch date.

JKS$(

bristolleedsfan said:

JKS$( said:

I remain a very happy TE customer, but still having final bill issues with Octopus..

You really need to find out what meter reading Tomato E opened with, my experience switching to handful of suppliers last year most gaining suppliers take Smart Meter reading on switch over date. Scottish Power take daily Smart Meter readings.

*I emailed TE on 27 Feb to check this - no reply. Have asked TE again today. The first meter reading on myWatts is for Feb 6th (switched Jan 27th) & was higher than it should have been. Despite adding several correct meter reads to myWatts, it keeps readjusting to a higher read.

You could ask Octopus to look on National Database to see what nearest meter reading is shown to your switch date.

I haven't asked them to do this specifically, so it's worth a try. Thanks!

masonic

Did they not take their own smart reading on SD-1? This would surely be better than using your photo from SD+11. The tolerance is supposed to be +/-5 days.

nikkijayne28

I meant to update you guys with my complaint about my delayed switch - TE responded to me really promptly to say they’d pay my £80 into my bank account which is good news!

I live in an apartment block and don’t have access to my meter so I’ve been screenshotting my meter readings from Octopus and my usage data from Bright to ensure I get an accurate final bill from Octopus. Fingers crossed!

JKS$(

masonic said:

Did they not take their own smart reading on SD-1? This would surely be better than using your photo from SD+11. The tolerance is supposed to be +/-5 days.

I've asked Octopus about this, for the first 2 emails they insisted their reading of 5242.8 was an actual, accuarate read. The third email said estimates are very rarely used for final bills, but came short of confirming that reading was an estimate. Which it must be, since my reading at SD+11 was lower than their 'final read'. 

(To recap why I don't have my own readings for those new to this thread - I live in a flat & don't have access to my meter, it's locked away. I have to rely on maintenance staff to take readings, at their convenience, not mine.  

I also don't have an IHD as my meter is too far away from my flat.)

 

masonic

JKS$( said:

masonic said:

Did they not take their own smart reading on SD-1? This would surely be better than using your photo from SD+11. The tolerance is supposed to be +/-5 days.

I've asked Octopus about this, for the first 2 emails they insisted their reading of 5242.8 was an actual, accuarate read. The third email said estimates are very rarely used for final bills, but came short of confirming that reading was an estimate. Which it must be, since my reading at SD+11 was lower than their 'final read'. 

(To recap why I don't have my own readings for those new to this thread - I live in a flat & don't have access to my meter, it's locked away. I have to rely on maintenance staff to take readings, at their convenience, not mine.  

I also don't have an IHD as my meter is too far away from my flat.

But what about the SD-1 read, if they took one? They did for everyone else who's commented about it. This would have been taken a day before the disputed final read.

I strongly suggest you go into the Octopus app and review all of your historic reads.

bristolleedsfan

JKS$( said:

masonic said:

Did they not take their own smart reading on SD-1? This would surely be better than using your photo from SD+11. The tolerance is supposed to be +/-5 days.

I've asked Octopus about this, for the first 2 emails they insisted their reading of 5242.8 was an actual, accuarate read. The third email said estimates are very rarely used for final bills, but came short of confirming that reading was an estimate. Which it must be, since my reading at SD+11 was lower than their 'final read'. 

(To recap why I don't have my own readings for those new to this thread - I live in a flat & don't have access to my meter, it's locked away. I have to rely on maintenance staff to take readings, at their convenience, not mine.  

I also don't have an IHD as my meter is too far away from my flat.)

 

Possibility that in absence of you submitting reading to T.E, Tomato not taking S/M reading on switch date, estimated reading has been agreed by both suppliers.

Unusual situation where you seemingly do not know what meter reading T.E opened with, does it not show on My Watts ???, which is why I suggested asking Octopus to check N.D.B to see what reading is registered closest to your switch date, You could also ask T.E what changeover reading it gave to old supplier/T.E opened with.

"their reading of 5242.8 was an actual, accuarate read"  AFA we all know not possible for old supplier to take a smart meter reading at the end of the last day of supply.

Ildhund

bristolleedsfan said:

"their reading of 5242.8 was an actual, accuarate read"  AFA we all know not possible for old supplier to take a smart meter reading at the end of the last day of supply.
  

I understand that the change of supply takes place at midnight, I think dated on the first day of the new supply. This is what the Smart Energy Code says about that day:
  

[Extracted from https://www.smartdcc.co.uk/media/6169/sec-appendix-e-dcc-user-interface-services-schedule-v41-clean.docx]

The daily read is recorded at the midnight at the start of the day. I can't see that there's any excuse for TE or Octopus not to be able to retrieve the daily read for switch day. 

masonic

Ildhund said:

bristolleedsfan said:

"their reading of 5242.8 was an actual, accuarate read"  AFA we all know not possible for old supplier to take a smart meter reading at the end of the last day of supply.
  

I understand that the change of supply takes place at midnight, I think dated on the first day of the new supply. This is what the Smart Energy Code says about that day:
  

[Extracted from https://www.smartdcc.co.uk/media/6169/sec-appendix-e-dcc-user-interface-services-schedule-v41-clean.docx]

The daily read is recorded at the midnight at the start of the day. I can't see that there's any excuse for TE or Octopus not to be able to retrieve the daily read for switch day. 

It really does seem like someone should tell the suppliers and Elexon about this, as it would make the D0010/D0086 flow dance a lot more straightforward for switches involving working smart meters.

FWIW Octopus CS contradicted this when I was negotiating use of my final reading with them, but they said a few other questionable things too.

bristolleedsfan

masonic said:

Ildhund said:

bristolleedsfan said:

"their reading of 5242.8 was an actual, accuarate read"  AFA we all know not possible for old supplier to take a smart meter reading at the end of the last day of supply.
  

I understand that the change of supply takes place at midnight, I think dated on the first day of the new supply. This is what the Smart Energy Code says about that day:
  

[Extracted from https://www.smartdcc.co.uk/media/6169/sec-appendix-e-dcc-user-interface-services-schedule-v41-clean.docx]

The daily read is recorded at the midnight at the start of the day. I can't see that there's any excuse for TE or Octopus not to be able to retrieve the daily read for switch day. 

It really does seem like someone should tell the suppliers and Elexon about this, as it would make the D0010/D0086 flow dance a lot more straightforward for switches involving working smart meters.

FWIW Octopus CS contradicted this when I was negotiating use of my final reading with them, but they said a few other questionable things too.

Switch Number 1 last year out of Octopus - Last two days missing readings could not pull from meter - charged flexible rate.

I switched back to Octopus.

Was told not possible to retrieve from DCC due to me technically being new customer.

I contacted DCC asked if there was anything Octopus had said which was not true/correct.

DCC contacted Octopus suggesting Octopus try and retrieve missing readings.

Someone from Smart Metering contacted me said had retrieved missing readings,

Subsequently got re-billed for 1 day at flexible rate.( subsequently credited at my average agile rate) was told only missing meter readings for one day had been retrieved,