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

Newbie_John

They have different kind of deadline - to prove OFGEM they have enough money to continue. It was something like 3 months + 30 days from 01/10/2025. Although they can also quit earlier.

I'd like to hope that they'll somehow manage to do that, but it's been ongoing for so long and with time more fees go their way - recent £1.5mln OFGEM penalty, cases of £80 for late bills to customers.

whatisit

Hi, sorry if already answered.  I joined Tomato in January, and after some late billing its been fine the last 6 months or so.

Now I notice mywatts last reading was 1st September.

My bill for August (received 17th September) has blank graphs.  Though it does mention lowest/highest usage days.

Just me?

Somebody

whatisit said:

Hi, sorry if already answered.  I joined Tomato in January, and after some late billing its been fine the last 6 months or so.

Now I notice mywatts last reading was 1st September.

My bill for August (received 17th September) has blank graphs.  Though it does mention lowest/highest usage days.

Just me?

I would say something is amiss.  How does your bill breakdown in terms of usage in the 3 rate periods?  Have you tried downloading the usage data in excel/csv format?  Do you use the Bright app as that would also show consumption data?

myWatts has been fine for me for what it's worth.  My last blank period was in July.

superkoopauk

Final nail in the coffin?  Ofgem proposing a fine of £1.5m (which Tomato have until the 3rd Nov to object to)

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/tomato-energy-limited-failure-maintain-liquidity

Doc_N

GingerTim said:

Interesting exchange on the Tomato subreddit...

Interesting. But potentially libellous.

GingerTim

Doc_N said:

GingerTim said:

Interesting exchange on the Tomato subreddit...

Interesting. But potentially libellous.

A good point. Will remove before it's deleted.

masonic

It's unlikely the allegation is true, as it would be near impossible to conceal long term, and when it did come out it would likely result in a criminal prosecution.

Ildhund

superkoopauk said:

Final nail in the coffin?  Ofgem proposing a fine of £1.5m ...

I honestly don't understand how these things work. This sounds like the situation where a chap calls 999 and says "we were out shooting and I think I killed my mate  - what do I do?"
Operator: "Calm down, Sir. Let's make sure he's dead first." 
BANG!
Hunter: "OK, now what?"

A company apparently doesn't have enough money in the bank to satisfy the regulator, so reduce its bank balance by £1.5M to make sure it doesn't.

Newbie_John

superkoopauk said:

Final nail in the coffin?  Ofgem proposing a fine of £1.5m (which Tomato have until the 3rd Nov to object to)

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/tomato-energy-limited-failure-maintain-liquidity

That article makes OFGEM sound like a joke. The PDF says Tomato has 12mln of debts (10k customers, if each £50 bill - that's 0.5mln a month - so 2 years of debt minimum). Clearly that's not manageable, and as they say it's been an issue since 2023.. so the solution to the problem 2 years later is to add another 1.5mln 😉 

QrizB

Ildhund said:

A company apparently doesn't have enough money in the bank to satisfy the regulator, so reduce its bank balance by £1.5M to make sure it doesn't.

And

Newbie_John said:

... so the solution to the problem 2 years later is to add another 1.5mln 😉 

It's not about solving Tomato's cashflow problems. It's about about maintaining a regulated market.

Energy suppliers can gain a commercial advantage by violating the terms of their supply licence. The penalties exist to discourage them from doing so.

Suppliers that break their licence have to be seen to suffer the consequences of doing so. Regulators can't play favourites.