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

Newbie_John

lohr500 said:

It could be that Octopus has a higher than the UK average number of customers on complex / TOU tariffs because that is something they are well known for and specialise in.

That being said, I suspect Octopus aren't overly concerned over what Tomato are doing and are probably already readying themselves to be SOLR if blight unfortunately hits the TE greenhouse.

Oh they're watching closely, as it's their biggest competition out there, most people join TE from Octopus.

For example TE Agile was renamed to TE Smile because of Octopus demand.

WibbleBaaaaaa

wrf12345 said:

"This is all good news for TE and their customers, as that pause seems to have helped them get back on top of everything, and i assume come April they will be taking customers hand over fist as they are the cheapest supplier across the whole Uk, so this is great news."

Be interesting to see where Octopus goes with its TOU tariffs when the std s/c's are cut in most areas from April, they may fight back if there are too many customers doing a runner. They have already adjusted their 14 mth fix and added electric radiators for those who want their heat pump tariff, Cosy.

Up here in Glasgow British gas just dropped their standing charge from 70p to 51p, and they are offering that for 14 months with a 22kwh tariff, so i assume BG have been losing customers to the point they have been forced to drop their SC down this much, but in doing so that now makes Octopus more expensive than BG in Glasgow, a sentence i never thought i would hear myself say. lol

TroubledTarts

Newbie_John said:

lohr500 said:

It could be that Octopus has a higher than the UK average number of customers on complex / TOU tariffs because that is something they are well known for and specialise in.

That being said, I suspect Octopus aren't overly concerned over what Tomato are doing and are probably already readying themselves to be SOLR if blight unfortunately hits the TE greenhouse.

Oh they're watching closely, as it's their biggest competition out there, most people join TE from Octopus.

For example TE Agile was renamed to TE Smile because of Octopus demand.

More likely they are watching the Elexon notices site closely ready to mop up as SOLR 😂😂😂

Always have a plan B

If you think Tomato are Octopus biggest competition you really need to rethink that just on numbers of customers alone 

Newbie_John

TroubledTarts said:

Newbie_John said:

lohr500 said:

It could be that Octopus has a higher than the UK average number of customers on complex / TOU tariffs because that is something they are well known for and specialise in.

That being said, I suspect Octopus aren't overly concerned over what Tomato are doing and are probably already readying themselves to be SOLR if blight unfortunately hits the TE greenhouse.

Oh they're watching closely, as it's their biggest competition out there, most people join TE from Octopus.

For example TE Agile was renamed to TE Smile because of Octopus demand.

More likely they are watching the Elexon notices site closely ready to mop up as SOLR 😂😂😂

Always have a plan B

If you think Tomato are Octopus biggest competition you really need to rethink that just on numbers of customers alone 

Look at Octopus notices:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.elexon.co.uk/documents/groups/panel/2023-meetings-panel/345-december/345-11-public-notification-of-octopus-energy-limited-mrcy-suppliers-accountability-for-a-settlement-error-under-p427/&ved=2ahUKEwjH64_z-ZGMAxUMREEAHeOgNsoQFnoECCgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw32NA19KvCRd7HLbrIst054

They've brought first profit after 8 years of losing money.. and now when they thought of making some money - TE shows up.
Sure they can ignore it.

TroubledTarts

I think you will find profits will be wiped out by National Insurance contributions for many companies this year and nothing to do with competition for a small start up like TE. The Facebook groups have less than 4000 unique members and let's say they are into their 10,000's. 

They have now shut their dores to new customers which will worry some about joining them. There is bad news about them from three sources and warning signs for many burnt before with SOLR.

I like the optimism but many are more realistic.

Pop over to the heat pump section of the forum and have a read and ask some of these questions there is you are interested.

WibbleBaaaaaa

Newbie_John said:

TroubledTarts said:

Newbie_John said:

lohr500 said:

It could be that Octopus has a higher than the UK average number of customers on complex / TOU tariffs because that is something they are well known for and specialise in.

That being said, I suspect Octopus aren't overly concerned over what Tomato are doing and are probably already readying themselves to be SOLR if blight unfortunately hits the TE greenhouse.

Oh they're watching closely, as it's their biggest competition out there, most people join TE from Octopus.

For example TE Agile was renamed to TE Smile because of Octopus demand.

More likely they are watching the Elexon notices site closely ready to mop up as SOLR 😂😂😂

Always have a plan B

If you think Tomato are Octopus biggest competition you really need to rethink that just on numbers of customers alone 

Look at Octopus notices:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.elexon.co.uk/documents/groups/panel/2023-meetings-panel/345-december/345-11-public-notification-of-octopus-energy-limited-mrcy-suppliers-accountability-for-a-settlement-error-under-p427/&ved=2ahUKEwjH64_z-ZGMAxUMREEAHeOgNsoQFnoECCgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw32NA19KvCRd7HLbrIst054

They've brought first profit after 8 years of losing money.. and now when they thought of making some money - TE shows up.
Sure they can ignore it.

Yeap, panic stations at octo headquarters because TE across the entire Uk are the cheapest in standing charge and mixed tariff supplier bar none, hence why they have been overwhelmed by cutomers jumping to them, and the double whammy of British gas also now being cheaper than octopus, and as of today, 18th March, octopus have still not release their 1st April tariffs.......so i cannot imagine the boardroom meetings going on at octo, i mean to now be a supplier who is more costly than British gas takes some doing. lol

Newbie_John

TroubledTarts said:

I think you will find profits will be wiped out by National Insurance contributions for many companies this year and nothing to do with competition for a small start up like TE. The Facebook groups have less than 4000 unique members and let's say they are into their 10,000's. 

They have now shut their dores to new customers which will worry some about joining them. There is bad news about them from three sources and warning signs for many burnt before with SOLR.

I like the optimism but many are more realistic.

Pop over to the heat pump section of the forum and have a read and ask some of these questions there is you are interested.

Many are more realistic and.. ?
There are many suppliers that close and open for new customers - look at 100Green and their Tide TOU tariff.
Octopus is pumping money into PR about how good they are (constant ads on radio) but the truth is they recently have gone bad - Tomato is better, even EON Next Drive is better.. look at Agile and Tracker topics - most people left them.

I joined in October and so far saved £500, approaching summer now when my bills will be really low so don't care..

Everything that's really good stops at some point and we need to accept that Octopus has the best days behind it, sadly. 

Doc_N

WibbleBaaaaaa said:

Newbie_John said:

TroubledTarts said:

Newbie_John said:

lohr500 said:

It could be that Octopus has a higher than the UK average number of customers on complex / TOU tariffs because that is something they are well known for and specialise in.

That being said, I suspect Octopus aren't overly concerned over what Tomato are doing and are probably already readying themselves to be SOLR if blight unfortunately hits the TE greenhouse.

Oh they're watching closely, as it's their biggest competition out there, most people join TE from Octopus.

For example TE Agile was renamed to TE Smile because of Octopus demand.

More likely they are watching the Elexon notices site closely ready to mop up as SOLR 😂😂😂

Always have a plan B

If you think Tomato are Octopus biggest competition you really need to rethink that just on numbers of customers alone 

Look at Octopus notices:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.elexon.co.uk/documents/groups/panel/2023-meetings-panel/345-december/345-11-public-notification-of-octopus-energy-limited-mrcy-suppliers-accountability-for-a-settlement-error-under-p427/&ved=2ahUKEwjH64_z-ZGMAxUMREEAHeOgNsoQFnoECCgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw32NA19KvCRd7HLbrIst054

They've brought first profit after 8 years of losing money.. and now when they thought of making some money - TE shows up.
Sure they can ignore it.

Yeap, panic stations at octo headquarters because TE across the entire Uk are the cheapest in standing charge and mixed tariff supplier bar none, hence why they have been overwhelmed by cutomers jumping to them, and the double whammy of British gas also now being cheaper than octopus, and as of today, 18th March, octopus have still not release their 1st April tariffs.......so i cannot imagine the boardroom meetings going on at octo, i mean to now be a supplier who is more costly than British gas takes some doing. lol

Expect redundancies then - shareholders certainly won't want a reduction in dividends!

JKS$(

After endless emails, I rang Octopus to ask for the credit that had appeared to be refunded, & for an update about my final bill. 

The credit shown wasn't a 'real' credit, it was the (wrong) final bill & part of the bill before that being 'undone'. 

CS told me she'd use SD+11 read to close, then re-bill me & put me on hold before I could say 'hang on a minute'. Here's my final final bill. The 5239 marked DCC is my SD+11 actual MR..

TE supplied the 5242.8 Closing reading according to Octopus.

Later today TE said their opening MR is 5189, the 'COS read most likely given to them by Octopus'. It doesn't show on myWatts. First myWatts reading is SD+7 (which was wrong & several subsequent correct MRs I've entered manually have been adjussted upwards on the same day/bext day)

5189 appears as a MR on Octopus app for SD-6
5190.0 appears on a previous bill (now undone) as smart meter read for SD-6

(SD was 27 Jan)


I can't see how the addition of that DCC has changed anything on the bill. Shows I'm still being billed for energy I haven't used, but I'm told I'm now £15 in credit, which should be refunded in a week. That covers the cost of the energy that was being doubled billed, so a result. Of sorts.

It's a bit of a mess & I hope it doesn't cause problems when I next switch. 

I remain baffled by the 'agreeing MR's between suppliers part of the switch process in my case. I can see on another thread others who've switched from Octopus have had final bill issues.  

masonic

JKS$( said:

After endless emails, I rang Octopus to ask for the credit that had appeared to be refunded, & for an update about my final bill. 

The credit shown wasn't a 'real' credit, it was the (wrong) final bill & part of the bill before that being 'undone'. 

CS told me she'd use SD+11 read to close, then re-bill me & put me on hold before I could say 'hang on a minute'. Here's my final final bill. The 5239 marked DCC is my SD+11 actual MR..

TE supplied the 5242.8 Closing reading according to Octopus.

Later today TE said their opening MR is 5189, the 'COS read most likely given to them by Octopus'. It doesn't show on myWatts. First myWatts reading is SD+7 (which was wrong & several subsequent correct MRs I've entered manually have been adjussted upwards on the same day/bext day)

5189 appears as a MR on Octopus app for SD-6
5190.0 appears on a previous bill (now undone) as smart meter read for SD-6

(SD was 27 Jan)


I can't see how the addition of that DCC has changed anything on the bill. Shows I'm still being billed for energy I haven't used, but I'm told I'm now £15 in credit, which should be refunded in a week. That covers the cost of the energy that was being doubled billed, so a result. Of sorts.

It's a bit of a mess & I hope it doesn't cause problems when I next switch. 

I remain baffled by the 'agreeing MR's between suppliers part of the switch process in my case. I can see on another thread others who've switched from Octopus have had final bill issues.  

It looks like your property had a visit from a meter reader on 25th Jan, and this reading is out of kilter with your others. Your closing read seems to be estimated based on this plus 2 days usage at your EAC I'd guess. It may just be coincidence that it is the same as your SD+11. Wouldn't be the first time a meter reader made a mistake. I had one a couple of years ago who got mine wrong by transposing two digits, then came back a couple of weeks later for another go which they got right. Though it is hard to see what they did in your case - perhaps they read the meter for the wrong flat?