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

MWT

Bendo said:

I'd refuse to pay and complain to the ombudsman if it comes to it. Their incompetence resulting in inability to read a communicating smart meter is not a legitimate reason to bill at svr rates.

Just be aware that if the worst happens and TE fail, the Ombudsman is not able to assist further with any open cases at the time, nor can it open new cases relating to the company in administration.

From the Ombudsman website:

"If a supplier ceases trading it is unable to fulfil its obligations as an energy supplier.

The Energy Ombudsman will not consider disputes against a supplier that has ceased trading as the supplier will not able to implement resolutions or provide financial awards to consumers.

For the same reasons, the Energy Ombudsman is not able to progress any cases currently open on its systems. Consumers who have a complaint about the failed supplier may wish to contact the administrator in an attempt to gain a resolution."

 

masonic

joowho said:

Over 3 months since joining TE and having no data whatsoever in myWatts or any bills despite chasing and being added to the technical team 'spreadsheet' in January, I phoned again earlier in the week and have today received a bill covering 3 months, not on the Lifestyle TOU tariff I signed up to but their standard single rate tariff (usage based on meter reads I gave) which, by my reckoning, has worked out around 20% more expensive.  Have been told that until they can get myWatts working that's how it is and they will rebill when/if(?) data ever comes through.  Should add no problems previously with Octopus tracker & Bright app is still recording HH usage (smets2 meter) and now nothing to encourage TE to sort it out as they will be being paid more! 

I would be quite relieved about that if I were in that situation. By all means complain, but at least now if the shutters are pulled down you will not have the administrators chasing you for this unbilled energy, or have it billed by the SoLR at the current price cap.

It sounds like it is cheaper than it would have been if you didn't switch, if only 20% more expensive than Lifestyle.

masonic

masonic said:

I'm not sure when it happened, but the graphs in MyWatts have been updated to show the local time rather than GMT throughout the year. Times before the 30th March have been left alone. It's nice not to have to mentally adjust the times at last. However, if you download data, you won't get the period between midnight and 1am for the first day.

Back to more mundane issues, I was incorrect to say that downloaded data since the move to BST is missing the period between midnight and 1am for the first day. I've realised what they've actually done is continued to state the times as "Tue Apr 01 2025 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)" and so on, but in fact the usage corresponds to the times in BST rather than GMT. So what they've done is just a manual fudge to shift the consumption data up by two rows, and the example quoted is actually for midnight BST, not midnight GMT.

I was wondering why my average unit rate had increased!

joowho

masonic said:

joowho said:

Over 3 months since joining TE and having no data whatsoever in myWatts or any bills despite chasing and being added to the technical team 'spreadsheet' in January, I phoned again earlier in the week and have today received a bill covering 3 months, not on the Lifestyle TOU tariff I signed up to but their standard single rate tariff (usage based on meter reads I gave) which, by my reckoning, has worked out around 20% more expensive.  Have been told that until they can get myWatts working that's how it is and they will rebill when/if(?) data ever comes through.  Should add no problems previously with Octopus tracker & Bright app is still recording HH usage (smets2 meter) and now nothing to encourage TE to sort it out as they will be being paid more! 

I would be quite relieved about that if I were in that situation. By all means complain, but at least now if the shutters are pulled down you will not have the administrators chasing you for this unbilled energy, or have it billed by the SoLR at the current price cap.

It sounds like it is cheaper than it would have been if you didn't switch, if only 20% more expensive than Lifestyle.

I agree, am relieved to have been billed.  Now considering whether to continue with TE on Lifestyle but billed at standard rate based on monthly reads, so the most I should owe is for a month of (low) summer usage, or to transfer back to Octopus…. 

tlcgrantham

joowho said:

masonic said:

joowho said:

Over 3 months since joining TE and having no data whatsoever in myWatts or any bills despite chasing and being added to the technical team 'spreadsheet' in January, I phoned again earlier in the week and have today received a bill covering 3 months, not on the Lifestyle TOU tariff I signed up to but their standard single rate tariff (usage based on meter reads I gave) which, by my reckoning, has worked out around 20% more expensive.  Have been told that until they can get myWatts working that's how it is and they will rebill when/if(?) data ever comes through.  Should add no problems previously with Octopus tracker & Bright app is still recording HH usage (smets2 meter) and now nothing to encourage TE to sort it out as they will be being paid more! 

I would be quite relieved about that if I were in that situation. By all means complain, but at least now if the shutters are pulled down you will not have the administrators chasing you for this unbilled energy, or have it billed by the SoLR at the current price cap.

It sounds like it is cheaper than it would have been if you didn't switch, if only 20% more expensive than Lifestyle.

I agree, am relieved to have been billed.  Now considering whether to continue with TE on Lifestyle but billed at standard rate based on monthly reads, so the most I should owe is for a month of (low) summer usage, or to transfer back to Octopus…. 

If it’s their Prime tariff you’re being billed on then at 21pkwh it’s probably cheaper than anybody else’s standard tariff.

masonic

joowho said:

masonic said:

joowho said:

Over 3 months since joining TE and having no data whatsoever in myWatts or any bills despite chasing and being added to the technical team 'spreadsheet' in January, I phoned again earlier in the week and have today received a bill covering 3 months, not on the Lifestyle TOU tariff I signed up to but their standard single rate tariff (usage based on meter reads I gave) which, by my reckoning, has worked out around 20% more expensive.  Have been told that until they can get myWatts working that's how it is and they will rebill when/if(?) data ever comes through.  Should add no problems previously with Octopus tracker & Bright app is still recording HH usage (smets2 meter) and now nothing to encourage TE to sort it out as they will be being paid more! 

I would be quite relieved about that if I were in that situation. By all means complain, but at least now if the shutters are pulled down you will not have the administrators chasing you for this unbilled energy, or have it billed by the SoLR at the current price cap.

It sounds like it is cheaper than it would have been if you didn't switch, if only 20% more expensive than Lifestyle.

I agree, am relieved to have been billed.  Now considering whether to continue with TE on Lifestyle but billed at standard rate based on monthly reads, so the most I should owe is for a month of (low) summer usage, or to transfer back to Octopus…. 

For me, Agile so far in April would have worked out at an average unit price of 18p (vs Lifestyle average of 15p), but I also lose out a bit on standing charges at Octopus. However, it's going to work out at about a 20p difference per day at my current usage, so for that premium I was happy to initiate a switch to save headaches down the line (especially as TE seems to be generating meter readings that are far too high compared with my own). Had the saving been more substantial, I may well have opted to ride it out.

tlcgrantham

@masonic I’ve decided to “ride it out”. True savings will be less for the summer but as I expect to use 10kwh a day also at around 15p on Lifestyle Tariff that’s 70p daily better than any other Tariff I could be on elsewhere. 

           Unlike some who have had serious problems with TE I haven’t. Their billing, MyWatts and Tariffs are all better than Octopus. I really hope they succeed 🙏

masonic

tlcgrantham said:

@masonic I’ve decided to “ride it out”. True savings will be less for the summer but as I expect to use 10kwh a day also at around 15p on Lifestyle Tariff that’s 70p daily better than any other Tariff I could be on elsewhere. 

           Unlike some who have had serious problems with TE I haven’t. Their billing, MyWatts and Tariffs are all better than Octopus. I really hope they succeed 🙏

Understandable. I too hope they are able to sort these troubles out and are still around (and hopefully a bit more mature) when I am considering what to do towards the end of the year.

joowho

tlcgrantham said:

joowho said:

masonic said:

joowho said:

Over 3 months since joining TE and having no data whatsoever in myWatts or any bills despite chasing and being added to the technical team 'spreadsheet' in January, I phoned again earlier in the week and have today received a bill covering 3 months, not on the Lifestyle TOU tariff I signed up to but their standard single rate tariff (usage based on meter reads I gave) which, by my reckoning, has worked out around 20% more expensive.  Have been told that until they can get myWatts working that's how it is and they will rebill when/if(?) data ever comes through.  Should add no problems previously with Octopus tracker & Bright app is still recording HH usage (smets2 meter) and now nothing to encourage TE to sort it out as they will be being paid more! 

I would be quite relieved about that if I were in that situation. By all means complain, but at least now if the shutters are pulled down you will not have the administrators chasing you for this unbilled energy, or have it billed by the SoLR at the current price cap.

It sounds like it is cheaper than it would have been if you didn't switch, if only 20% more expensive than Lifestyle.

I agree, am relieved to have been billed.  Now considering whether to continue with TE on Lifestyle but billed at standard rate based on monthly reads, so the most I should owe is for a month of (low) summer usage, or to transfer back to Octopus…. 

If it’s their Prime tariff you’re being billed on then at 21pkwh it’s probably cheaper than anybody else’s standard tariff.

They're billing the standard 'peak' day rate of the Lifestyle tariff @ 23p which I thought was also their single rate tariff.  No longer have access to any tariff info on their website to check what Prime rate is.  As you say, still probably cheaper than any other standard tariff, shame all my off peak usage was to no avail!

HillStreetBlues

MWT said:

Bendo said:

I'd refuse to pay and complain to the ombudsman if it comes to it. Their incompetence resulting in inability to read a communicating smart meter is not a legitimate reason to bill at svr rates.

Just be aware that if the worst happens and TE fail, the Ombudsman is not able to assist further with any open cases at the time, nor can it open new cases relating to the company in administration.

From the Ombudsman website:

"If a supplier ceases trading it is unable to fulfil its obligations as an energy supplier.

The Energy Ombudsman will not consider disputes against a supplier that has ceased trading as the supplier will not able to implement resolutions or provide financial awards to consumers.

For the same reasons, the Energy Ombudsman is not able to progress any cases currently open on its systems. Consumers who have a complaint about the failed supplier may wish to contact the administrator in an attempt to gain a resolution."

What about if decision has been made? Would the administrator be expected to implement that?