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

HillStreetBlues

Not been on here for a while, I've ended up have both a credit and a debit with them (nigh on same amount).

Bendo

MWT said:

Bendo said:

Of course by the administrators dealing with outstanding bills, backbilling rules no longer apply so those who were never billed will likely get one eventually. Wherher they will be able to work with a 3rd party DCC user to get the data or have to use deemed profiles on index reads is another matter. I expect the latter is most likely...

Not quite that simple, although the company is no longer bound by the supply licence conditions, Ofgem has warned Administrators in general that they expect them to follow the terms regardless, or risk Ofgem seeking the ability to enforce the rules upon them...

To a large extent it is an empty threat in the short term but administrators do have to give consideration to the cost of debt recovery vs the amount they can actually recover so it makes sense to go after what can be recovered at a reasonable cost, which in the case of Tomato is going to be an interesting judgement call, especially if the directors are actively frustrating their efforts... (a very unwise move I'd say if it proves to be true...)

Ofgem can warn all they like, until legislation is passed to make that the case, the administrator is obligated to recover as much as it can for the creditors.

diyeco

 so it makes sense to go after what can be recovered at a reasonable cost, 

What I thought... suspect dealing with me might be at an "unreasonable cost" given the £/hr the Administrators charge    (my bill is probably 2.5 minutes at the MD rate [£1195/h] and 15 minutes [£195/h] minutes at the support rate)

masonic

diyeco said:

 so it makes sense to go after what can be recovered at a reasonable cost, 

What I thought... suspect dealing with me might be at an "unreasonable cost" given the £/hr the Administrators charge    (my bill is probably 2.5 minutes at the MD rate [£1195/h] and 15 minutes [£195/h] minutes at the support rate)

Which is why they'll typically sell on problem debts to professional debt collection firms. You should also take note of clauses 11.19.7-10, 11.24.5 and 11.25 of your contract.

Are you seriously saying you will refuse to pay for the energy you have used if it is correctly billed? Is this a general thing or just related to the Tomato admin?

MWT

masonic said:

Are you seriously saying you will refuse to pay for the energy you have used if it is correctly billed? Is this a general thing or just related to the Tomato admin?

It is going to be interesting to see if the information to 'correctly bill' even exists in many cases.

Bobohead

Tomato didn't use meter readings to do their bills. My watts took smart meter readings but they weren't always anything like correct. My usage data seemed to be similar to my in home display. So what are they basing the final bill on? I'm personally paid up till the end of October so it's only 8 days usage up until the 9th when BG took over which raises another question BG have taken readings and billing from the 18th. So what about the time in-between?

Bendo

Bobohead said:

Tomato didn't use meter readings to do their bills. My watts took smart meter readings but they weren't always anything like correct. My usage data seemed to be similar to my in home display. So what are they basing the final bill on? I'm personally paid up till the end of October so it's only 8 days usage up until the 9th when BG took over which raises another question BG have taken readings and billing from the 18th. So what about the time in-between?

For those that never had accurate billing, I would expect as per the Tomato terms, you will end up with a bill based on start and end read with a deemed profile applied. 

That assumes Senapt will provide the starting read... If they refuse... well directors of companies that take the !!!!!! always tend to get off scot free anyway.

BigBlueSky

A family member was with Tomato Energy and moved away to Scottishpower at the end of October 2025 before they officially went into administration.

My query is regarding the Warm Home Discount.

Who is responsible for paying this?  It would be the electricity provider in August 2025 (which was Tomato), but that is obviously no longer possible.  They have since moved again from Scottishpower and are now with EDF.

Has anyone else been entitled to the Warm Home Discount and managed to get it under similar circumstances ?

Thanks in advance

t0rt0ise

Bobohead said:

Tomato didn't use meter readings to do their bills. My watts took smart meter readings but they weren't always anything like correct. My usage data seemed to be similar to my in home display. So what are they basing the final bill on? I'm personally paid up till the end of October so it's only 8 days usage up until the 9th when BG took over which raises another question BG have taken readings and billing from the 18th. So what about the time in-between?

I was SoLR'd to British Gas in 2021 and they never did bill me for that in between bit that you are wondering about. I don't know if that was by design or incompetence.

MWT

Bobohead said:

Tomato didn't use meter readings to do their bills. My watts took smart meter readings but they weren't always anything like correct. My usage data seemed to be similar to my in home display. So what are they basing the final bill on? I'm personally paid up till the end of October so it's only 8 days usage up until the 9th when BG took over which raises another question BG have taken readings and billing from the 18th. So what about the time in-between?

BG should be billing from the 10th onwards, but they may not want to get caught up in debates with the administrators about meter readings...