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

FreeBear

debitcardmayhem said:

Gerry1 said:

lohr500 said:

Unless Ofgem are asleep at the wheel

Is the Pope a Catholic?😈

Who knows where bears defecate?

How much detail do you want ?

jaybeetoo

tlcgrantham said:

Despite the problems some are clearly experiencing, my first week on Tomato Lifestyle has gone well.
 

  1. MyWatts works well. It updates every 3 hours with detailed usage and cost both current and historical so I can check for accuracy. In this it’s actually better than Octopus which updates the following day.
 

I can see my Octopus electricity usage and cost in near real-time.  I have the Octopus Home Mini which enables this.

wrf12345

The big difference will be if Tomato does not pick up the readings, if it happens with Octopus you can phone up and they will tweak something whilst you are on line whereas Tomato does not seem to have any customer services according to the posts and you are therefore lost... ideally, the software should let you do that yourself but not there yet, same with DD's, there should be a way to cancel increases if they are not needed rather than have to talk (almost beg!) to cs. Proper automation will save costs and make companies like Tomato viable.

tlcgrantham

@jaybeetoo MyWatts is the equivalent of an online account so I was comparing it to my Octopus online account. I do use the Compare  ap but even there it only updates pm the following day. 

 

 @wrf12345   I take your point about customer services not being as good as Octopus. However I have a Variable DD with them on receipt of monthly bill. So if they can’t pick up my readings they can’t charge me as per couple.uk the OP. 

           Of course there’s a risk with Tomato but I’m willing to take it.

Telegraph_Sam

I don't find that waiting the extra day for Compare to update is a huge disadvantage since I would base my decision on the med to longer term results.
On the other hand I will await more feedback on this forum from users' experience of Tomato generally in order to form a balanced decision.
I don't know if Tomato would integrate with my present FIT and Octopus SEG Export arrangements. A leap in the dark I suspect.

Mike360

wrf12345 said:

anyone got variable direct debit with Tomato or is that too complicated for them?

Yes, I have.

bob2302

jaybeetoo said:

tlcgrantham said:

Despite the problems some are clearly experiencing, my first week on Tomato Lifestyle has gone well.
 

  1. MyWatts works well. It updates every 3 hours with detailed usage and cost both current and historical so I can check for accuracy. In this it’s actually better than Octopus which updates the following day.
 

I can see my Octopus electricity usage and cost in near real-time.  I have the Octopus Home Mini which enables this.

I have one too, but there is a risk of a mismatch between what's displayed and the DCC data used for billing. I tend to pay more attention to Octopus Compare for electricity. 

bob2302

Where they have the wrong slot, is it definitely wrong or are they just labelling slots by the end time?

lohr500

Definitely wrong.

As an example, the usage they show at 06:00 is actually the usage between 05:30 and 06:00, but they are applying the contract tou unit cost which is in place from 06:00 to 06:30.

This may not apply to all their customers' billing, but it certainly is the case for mine and it would seem many others.

Telegraph_Sam

I thought that the advantage of Compare was that it gives tailor-made consumption comparisons based on my actual usage. Which other tools incl the Home Mini don't. Am I wrong?