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

psamuel

I umped ship last night to home energy, recieved email accepting the transfer within 30 mins

decentchap100

I'm still with Tomato (if they still exist) at the moment.
Billing is up to date (always has been) though my current direct debit isn't due to go out until 27th October.
I've downloaded Octobers meter readings which go until late last night so I hopefully don't get overcharged by any SOLR.
Personally I think one of Tomato's biggest mistakes has been that they didn't maintain a balance from their customers. I.e. the direct debit was only taken based on actual usage nearly a month after the energy was used. When I was previously with Octopus they took a full months payment up front to build a balance and then went from there. This would not have helped their liquidity at all which seems to have been a big issue for them.
In terms of a new supplier I really don't know where to turn.
I've had a good look around but nothing really seems to jump out at me as a good tariff.
I have an EV but rarely charge it at home due to being able to charge for free at work.
I'm able to shift a bit of usage overnight or whatever is most advantageous (e.g. washing machine, dishwasher etc) but it's difficult to shift enough to make a massive difference so not keen on some of the EV tariffs where the standard rate is a lot higher... Octopus is over 30p/kWh which would be hard to stomach.
Be glad of any suggestions, especially any less well known suppliers.
I tried Octopus Agile before I was with Tomato and it was often good but over the winter the rates were punitive so it doesn't really seem to work at that time of year. So no point going on to that now.

MWT

decentchap100 said:

Personally I think one of Tomato's biggest mistakes has been that they didn't maintain a balance from their customers. I.e. the direct debit was only taken based on actual usage nearly a month after the energy was used. When I was previously with Octopus they took a full months payment up front to build a balance and then went from there. This would not have helped their liquidity at all which seems to have been a big issue for them.

I'd vote for moving people straight to a half-hour ToU tariff without first checking they could get the meter readings.

That one messed up the switching process industry flows, getting the correct opening reading on to accounts and left them unable to bill all the meters they could not read...

GSV3MIAC2

The best tariff if you have an ev is probably eon's next drive.. Just buy a battery, and you can run all day every day on the overnight rate, stored. Yes, a battery is a large upfront cost, but the payback looks pretty good to me. If no ev, there is the good energy ev tariff which doesn't need one. 5.5p offpeak. Yes, the peak rates, are horrid, but with a decent battery you never use any. 

NormalNorman

psamuel said:

I jumped ship last night to home energy, received email accepting the transfer within 30 mins

Me too, Home Energy went live of the 21st Oct. £0 exit fee so free to look for another tariff if need be. Felt like I'd strung out TE long enough.

Newbie_John

@decentchap100 good energy and either EV (6.5p 0-5am) or Heat Pump with 5-9am, 13-16 at 13p and 29p all other hours.
No peak charges like Octopus and rates cheaper in general.

So depending which bit at TE gave you most savings:
0-5am or 9:30-11:30, you can replicate it.

And they clearly state on their website you don't need EV/HeatPump 

MWT

Newbie_John said:

@decentchap100 good energy and either EV (6.5p 0-5am) or Heat Pump with 5-9am, 13-16 at 13p and 29p all other hours.
No peak charges like Octopus and rates cheaper in general.

So depending which bit at TE gave you most savings:
0-5am or 9:30-11:30, you can replicate it.

And they clearly state on their website you don't need EV/HeatPump 

The standing charge on Good Energy is a bit painful though, 56.93p in Eastern region.

wadeo0

Good Energy looks good but I don't have an EV so just shift things like washing/drying, dishwasher etc - my last bill from Tomato I used 47.40kw/h at the cheap overnight rate out of 222.93 kw/h total. I haven't sat down and worked it all out but the 66p standing charge & 29p standard rate from Good Energy seems like it might eat into many savings with my usage. I might just forget about the load shifting and move to Fuse (or similar) - could also get cheaper gas with them vs my current Octopus tariff I think.

decentchap100

Newbie_John said:

@decentchap100 good energy and either EV (6.5p 0-5am) or Heat Pump with 5-9am, 13-16 at 13p and 29p all other hours.
No peak charges like Octopus and rates cheaper in general.

So depending which bit at TE gave you most savings:
0-5am or 9:30-11:30, you can replicate it.

And they clearly state on their website you don't need EV/HeatPump 

Yes that looks OK but the peak rate for my area is over 30p. And there's a £75 exit fee as well.
I'm interested in battery storage but the upfront cost is quite high and I'm unsure if I'll be moving house in the near future.
EON Next Drive is probably where I'm leaning at the moment as 6 hours of 6.5p and 28.5p the rest of the time.
And looks like you can do smart car charging all the time which is a plus even if I won't be using it much.

NormalNorman

In the olden days with Octopus Go the day rate was the just usual amount with the benefit of the off-peak period. Nowadays the day rates are very high so you have to make the best out of the night rate with possibly huge purchases like solar/batteries/compatible EV chargers etc. 

So having had a good look at the market I'm just sticking on a single rate tariff with Home Energy as sub 20p kWh. I really don't fancy pumping up the day rate by 10p kWh just for a little bit of off-peak when I don't own a car never mind an EV. No more timing appliances and waking up to them needing emptied when I can least be arsed.