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

Newbie_John

Boohoo said:

All things Tomato Energy must be ok now as this thread is not updated every minute.

My Dad left Tomato Energy middle of April but has not had his last/final bill from them. He used to get a bill at the start of the month.

He's has got his bill from Octopus for the few days he was with them after switching from Tomato.

Maybe it takes longer for the final bill?

I've waited 4 months for final bill from Octopus..

bristolleedsfan

MWT said:

Boohoo said:

All things Tomato Energy must be ok now as this thread is not updated every minute.
 and the DNO's have been paid and allow switching.

 and the DNO's have been paid and allow switching.
That has not happened yet...

That is interesting, are you suggesting Tomato Chief was economical with the truth about a week after Ofgem provisional order was published when he said in a Facebook reply £3 million referred to had been paid pre the publication and that Ofgem had already started its investigation by then.

MWT

bristolleedsfan said:

MWT said:

Boohoo said:

All things Tomato Energy must be ok now as this thread is not updated every minute.
 and the DNO's have been paid and allow switching.

 and the DNO's have been paid and allow switching.
That has not happened yet...

That is interesting, are you suggesting Tomato Chief was economical with the truth about a week after Ofgem provisional order was published when he said in a Facebook reply £3 million referred to had been paid pre the publication and that Ofgem had already started its investigation by then.

Tempting as it might be having seen some of his posts, no, that is not what i was suggesting.

I do not read all his FB posts so if they have now paid the DNO's whatever was due then it is only Ofgem that needs to be satisfied...

bristolleedsfan

MWT said:

bristolleedsfan said:

MWT said:

Boohoo said:

All things Tomato Energy must be ok now as this thread is not updated every minute.
 and the DNO's have been paid and allow switching.

 and the DNO's have been paid and allow switching.
That has not happened yet...

That is interesting, are you suggesting Tomato Chief was economical with the truth about a week after Ofgem provisional order was published when he said in a Facebook reply £3 million referred to had been paid pre the publication and that Ofgem had already started its investigation by then.

Tempting as it might be having seen some of his posts, no, that is not what i was suggesting.

I do not read all his FB posts so if they have now paid the DNO's whatever was due then it is only Ofgem that needs to be satisfied...

I thought maybe you had inside the industry info from your Octo friends 

This is what he said 3 weeks ago from within a long thread.

"Feedback well taken. I just felt its good to keep a more social format for these situations. We are very confident we will be fine.

The actual £3M mentioned was actually paid before the publication but Ofgem had already kicked off the investigation, hence their mention of the date for the debt. We in the business know we are profitable. we just need to prove that to Ofgem and ensure we have sufficient capital to keep growing"

Bendo

To be fair, it's hardly a surprise Ofgem started the investigation given the merry hell their inability to pay their bills on time caused with DNOs refusing to process switches to them, something that was so unusual it effectively left customers in limbo as they weren't moved but their original supplier thought they were.

Given there is very little profit in retail energy supply, they appeared to be selling it at or below their cost price and they made themselves liable for countless lots of £80 compensation payments,  it's hard to see where the money to satisfy the SLC comes from.

If they have indeed had an independent auditor compile a report as obliged,  maybe they could also pay said auditor to also process the Senapt accounts that are 4 months overdue.

MWT

bristolleedsfan said:

MWT said:

bristolleedsfan said:

MWT said:

Boohoo said:

All things Tomato Energy must be ok now as this thread is not updated every minute.
 and the DNO's have been paid and allow switching.

 and the DNO's have been paid and allow switching.
That has not happened yet...

That is interesting, are you suggesting Tomato Chief was economical with the truth about a week after Ofgem provisional order was published when he said in a Facebook reply £3 million referred to had been paid pre the publication and that Ofgem had already started its investigation by then.

Tempting as it might be having seen some of his posts, no, that is not what i was suggesting.

I do not read all his FB posts so if they have now paid the DNO's whatever was due then it is only Ofgem that needs to be satisfied...

"Feedback well taken. I just felt its good to keep a more social format for these situations. We are very confident we will be fine.

The actual £3M mentioned was actually paid before the publication but Ofgem had already kicked off the investigation, hence their mention of the date for the debt. We in the business know we are profitable. we just need to prove that to Ofgem and ensure we have sufficient capital to keep growing"

So they are just incompetent, not insolvent, if that statement is to be believed, neither option is good really.

masonic

MWT said:

bristolleedsfan said:

MWT said:

bristolleedsfan said:

MWT said:

Boohoo said:

All things Tomato Energy must be ok now as this thread is not updated every minute.
 and the DNO's have been paid and allow switching.

 and the DNO's have been paid and allow switching.
That has not happened yet...

That is interesting, are you suggesting Tomato Chief was economical with the truth about a week after Ofgem provisional order was published when he said in a Facebook reply £3 million referred to had been paid pre the publication and that Ofgem had already started its investigation by then.

Tempting as it might be having seen some of his posts, no, that is not what i was suggesting.

I do not read all his FB posts so if they have now paid the DNO's whatever was due then it is only Ofgem that needs to be satisfied...

"Feedback well taken. I just felt its good to keep a more social format for these situations. We are very confident we will be fine.

The actual £3M mentioned was actually paid before the publication but Ofgem had already kicked off the investigation, hence their mention of the date for the debt. We in the business know we are profitable. we just need to prove that to Ofgem and ensure we have sufficient capital to keep growing"

So they are just incompetent, not insolvent, if that statement is to be believed, neither option is good really.

Based on earlier comments that they deliberately delay paying their bills as long as possible, to them this is a feature not a bug.

Newbie_John

Bendo said:

To be fair, it's hardly a surprise Ofgem started the investigation given the merry hell their inability to pay their bills on time caused with DNOs refusing to process switches to them, something that was so unusual it effectively left customers in limbo as they weren't moved but their original supplier thought they were.

Given there is very little profit in retail energy supply, they appeared to be selling it at or below their cost price and they made themselves liable for countless lots of £80 compensation payments,  it's hard to see where the money to satisfy the SLC comes from.

If they have indeed had an independent auditor compile a report as obliged,  maybe they could also pay said auditor to also process the Senapt accounts that are 4 months overdue.

10k customers, even if each was paid £80, that's only £800k, but in reality we're talking much less, maybe 1000 - for £80k? Their 2023 reports show them dealing in millions £, so this isn't a big deal.

I think its good time for them to have a break, fix all the issues, and attempt to conquer the market again - as their offering is exactly what people need.

MWT

masonic said:

MWT said:

bristolleedsfan said:

MWT said:

bristolleedsfan said:

MWT said:

Boohoo said:

All things Tomato Energy must be ok now as this thread is not updated every minute.
 and the DNO's have been paid and allow switching.

 and the DNO's have been paid and allow switching.
That has not happened yet...

That is interesting, are you suggesting Tomato Chief was economical with the truth about a week after Ofgem provisional order was published when he said in a Facebook reply £3 million referred to had been paid pre the publication and that Ofgem had already started its investigation by then.

Tempting as it might be having seen some of his posts, no, that is not what i was suggesting.

I do not read all his FB posts so if they have now paid the DNO's whatever was due then it is only Ofgem that needs to be satisfied...

"Feedback well taken. I just felt its good to keep a more social format for these situations. We are very confident we will be fine.

The actual £3M mentioned was actually paid before the publication but Ofgem had already kicked off the investigation, hence their mention of the date for the debt. We in the business know we are profitable. we just need to prove that to Ofgem and ensure we have sufficient capital to keep growing"

So they are just incompetent, not insolvent, if that statement is to be believed, neither option is good really.

Based on earlier comments that they deliberately delay paying their bills as long as possible, to them this is a feature not a bug.

Deliberately failing to pay within the contracted terms of their agreements to the point where their suppliers are either seeking to wind them up or cut of services is hardly a 'feature' of any business we should be applauding...

wrf12345

"Given there is very little profit in retail energy supply"

The retail electric price is more than double the wholesale price so there is plenty of room for smaller, leaner companies to make decent "profits", especially those that have their own software and Tomato have actually generated more customers than they know what to do with despite no huge advertising push. Not paying bills on time is a trick they have taken on from larger corporations but possibly taken it to extremes. Hope they survive as decent competition is desperately needed in the sector.

NB profits is in inverted commas because the two percent profit that the big companies declare bears no relationship to the actual profits they make.