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

Qyburn

Sunfold said:

Tomato and SMET 1 meters. 

I’m in a tomato Energy user Facebook group and the issues of SMET1 meters have been directly addressed to the members by their CEO. 

Here’s the explanation 
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/b3vELQ1iZMcnJvuk/?

Private group.

coupleuk

For the first month, Tomato pulled the half hour readings from my SMETS1 meters.

For them to now state they can't is their problem to sort. On top of the other issues they are unable to sort lol

I had a phone call from them just before 10am today but I was going out. They asked what time is best and we agreed they'd call me at 5pm this evening. Of course they didn't.

It's going to interesting how this plays out.

lohr500

coupleuk said:

For the first month, Tomato pulled the half hour readings from my SMETS1 meters.

For them to now state they can't is their problem to sort. On top of the other issues they are unable to sort lol

I had a phone call from them just before 10am today but I was going out. They asked what time is best and we agreed they'd call me at 5pm this evening. Of course they didn't.

It's going to interesting how this plays out.

My own view is that it is going to be a monumental train smash.

I don't know what happens though to anyone who hasn't received a bill if their supplier goes under and they get transferred to a SOLR.
Is the SOLR entitled to charge for any outstanding consumption at the SVT, are they bound to honour the old supplier's tariff, or is the debt written off? If the new supplier can't access the half hourly data either, how would they be able to bill anyway?
Are the offers being made by TE's CEO on the Facebook forum to write off 30%/50%/100% of the bill part of any contract and would they count for anything in the event of TE going out of business? 
Seems like a can of worms to me.

QrizB

lohr500 said:

Is the SOLR entitled to charge for any outstanding consumption at the SVT, are they bound to honour the old supplier's tariff, or is the debt written off? If the new supplier can't access the half hourly data either, how would they be able to bill anyway?

Is Tomato hasn't billed you, the Official Receiver (OR) will. We saw that happening with the suppliers who went bust back in 2021/22. And the OR isn't bound by the 12-month back-billing limit as that's an Ofgem rule only applicable to organisations with a Electricity (or Gas) Supply Licence, which the OR won't hold.

The SoLR is not bound to offer Tomato's tariffs, and I'd expect you to be offered the SoLR's SVT.

There will be a handover reading agreed between the OR and the SoLR. The SoLR will bill you for all consumption subsequent to the handover reading.

lohr500 said:

Are the offers being made by TE's CEO on the Facebook forum to write off 30%/50%/100% of the bill part of any contract and would they count for anything in the event of TE going out of business?

Counts for nothing.

Spoonie_Turtle

Is there somewhere that publishes Tomato's Agile rates? 
This is purely idle curiosity to compare with The Tentacled One's eyewatering rates tomorrow (and likely next few days).  And extra idle as I'm on Tracker anyway.

NibblyPig

Can top how much of a nightmare you guys are having, it turns out that my smart meter's clock is approx 11 hours off. And not only that, but it has been that way for some time, so octopus, my old supplier, have also been billing me incorrectly for months.

When I told them they argued a bit but are now looking into it, and have put a hold on me having to pay the outstanding amount. However Tomato are completely useless and I have no idea what's going to happen when my bill becomes due.

FreeBear

QrizB said:

lohr500 said:

Is the SOLR entitled to charge for any outstanding consumption at the SVT, are they bound to honour the old supplier's tariff, or is the debt written off? If the new supplier can't access the half hourly data either, how would they be able to bill anyway?

Is Tomato hasn't billed you, the Official Receiver (OR) will. We saw that happening with the suppliers who went bust back in 2021/22.

When Toto the Clowns went t*ts up, it was EDF that issued the final bill. Still not right (billing for 100s ft³ on a metric smart meter). I've not heard a peep out of EDF or the OR, so I kinda assume that they have written the bill off by now.

tlcgrantham

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Is there somewhere that publishes Tomato's Agile rates? 
This is purely idle curiosity to compare with The Tentacled One's eyewatering rates tomorrow (and likely next few days).  And extra idle as I'm on Tracker anyway.

You can go to their website press “get a quote” and pop in your postcode. Briefly their basic tariff is 21pkwh with an SC of 51p. Lifestyle is 15hrs @ 23.3pkwh, 5hrs @ 5pkwh and 4hrs @ 14pkwh.  Hope that helps.

lohr500

tlcgrantham said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Is there somewhere that publishes Tomato's Agile rates? 
This is purely idle curiosity to compare with The Tentacled One's eyewatering rates tomorrow (and likely next few days).  And extra idle as I'm on Tracker anyway.

You can go to their website press “get a quote” and pop in your postcode. Briefly their basic tariff is 21pkwh with an SC of 51p. Lifestyle is 15hrs @ 23.3pkwh, 5hrs @ 5pkwh and 4hrs @ 14pkwh.  Hope that helps.

I think @Spoonie_Turtle is looking for the Agile rates (now called Smile as TE have been told not to use "Agile" as the description any more). 

I'm not sure TE have ever explained clearly what wholesale cost related formula would be used if you adopted their Agile/Smile tariff. 

Newbie_John

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Is there somewhere that publishes Tomato's Agile rates? 
This is purely idle curiosity to compare with The Tentacled One's eyewatering rates tomorrow (and likely next few days).  And extra idle as I'm on Tracker anyway.

No, and for now I would avoid it.

But roughly it follows Octopus pattern of up and down with less extreme.

Octopus charges 2 * sale price (+ extra during peak)
TE charges 8p + sale price (+ extra during peak, I think :-D)

If energy costs -3p then Octopus = -6p but TE = +5p
If energy costs 8p then Octopus = 16p but TE = 16p
If energy costs 30p then Octopus = 60p but TE = 38p