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

tlcgrantham

Nice to hear Tomato are sorting out their problems. It’s good to have a rival for Octopus on TOU tariffs. The nearest Octopus came to the Lifestyle tariffs was with GOFASTER tariffs which allowed you to choose when and how long you wanted your cheap rate to run. I miss that

Veteransaver

Winniepoohrulez said:

I’ve been very pleased with Tomato Energy so far. I’m on the lifestyle tariff using a Powerwall 3 and EV so nearly all my energy is at 4.5p. It took 2 weeks to get my meter synced with mywatts billing (started working after calling customer services). When I pulled the csv export I found my charging periods were 30 minutes out. Updated my charging schedules and hey presto.

Sure, I miss octopus ecosystem and all the apps and integrations but I’m saving a fortune, and hopeful that the export tariff will be available soon as I noticed it’s in their contract.

They should have fixed the half hour issue now, so you might want to check the latest CSV (mine updated for November onwards) and change your charge schedules otherwise you'll be paying peak (or middle peak rate) for the 2330-0000 slot.

Gerry1

Just do the ££ sums based on your annual kWh consumption obtained from actual meter readings (smart, customer or official meter reader), never estimated ones or readings by a landlord estate or letting agent.

Netexporter

dllive said:

Hi guys.

Im currently on the Octopus 15M Fixed tariff.

If I go with Tomato Energy - who Ive never heard of before - I could save £130pa!

But Im a bit nervous about jumping to TE as Ive never heard of them before! How are people finding them? Is it worth switching to them?

Currently with Octopus Im paying:
23.03p/kWh
66.07p/day

whereas with TE its:
21.2784p/kWh
59.9456p/day

So Im curious to hear on others experiences with them. Thanks

You could probably save far more by getting a smart meter and going on one of Octopus' TOU tariffs.

QrizB

dllive said:

Hi guys.

Im currently on the Octopus 15M Fixed tariff.

If I go with Tomato Energy - who Ive never heard of before - I could save £130pa!

But Im a bit nervous about jumping to TE as Ive never heard of them before! How are people finding them? Is it worth switching to them?

Currently with Octopus Im paying:
23.03p/kWh
66.07p/day

whereas with TE its:
21.2784p/kWh
59.9456p/day

So Im curious to hear on others experiences with them. Thanks

Saving 6p a day on SC is £22 a year.

Saving 2p/kWh will only save you the other £108iof you're using 5400kWh/yr. Is that the right sort of number for your household?

crumpet_man

Netexporter said:

dllive said:

Hi guys.

Im currently on the Octopus 15M Fixed tariff.

If I go with Tomato Energy - who Ive never heard of before - I could save £130pa!

But Im a bit nervous about jumping to TE as Ive never heard of them before! How are people finding them? Is it worth switching to them?

Currently with Octopus Im paying:
23.03p/kWh
66.07p/day

whereas with TE its:
21.2784p/kWh
59.9456p/day

So Im curious to hear on others experiences with them. Thanks

You could probably save far more by getting a smart meter and going on one of Octopus' TOU tariffs.

Or possibly save more than that by getting a Tomato Energy TOU "lifestyle" tariff.

masonic

dllive said:

So it will be about £72 (£50 + £22) per year cheaper than what Im currently on. This is certainly not to be sniffed at, but my concern is that TE seems a new/small company, so Im mindful not to jump ship only to find that they go bust in a few months and I get moved elsewhere.

To be successful in this industry, they'd have to have a plan that involves being loss making for several years. If they run out of money in a matter of months then it was not well thought out. Of more concern is whether their platform is working, and they can cope with customer service needs. It looks like there is movement in the right direction with that, but perhaps some work yet to be done.

dllive said:

Netexporter said:

You could probably save far more by getting a smart meter and going on one of Octopus' TOU tariffs.

Thanks. Ive been having a quick read about their TOU tariffs. My ASHP is just left on - with the compensation curve controlling it. I work from home, so using majority of electricity during the day, so Im not sure if their TOU tariffs will benefit me much. (I may be entirely wrong!)

It could work quite well. The main thing is to avoid usage at 4-7pm. If you can also avoid the secondary peak leading up to 9am, then it could work out very well for you.

cfw1994

Merry Christmas all!
With a day ahead of cooking….a good time to think about energy 🤪

Doing a now (Octopus Go) v Tomato Energy comparison:

  StandCharge: 54.85p v 44.9991 (🤦‍♂️)

  Cheap rate: 8.5p v 5.004

  Normal rate: 25.03 v 24.3128

Plus a couple of middle rate slots with TE

So it sounds a “no-brainer”.

However!

We currently pay £150pcm - *including* gas, yet TE suggest the bill for JUST electricity with them would be £184.83pcm 🧐

Feels…VERY wrong 🤷‍♂️

We have working SMETS2, so they have all the data.

Front loading the bills to account for the fact we are in winter?

Our electricity bill for a full month (mid Nov to Dec) was £58 for electricity, gas was 174 (we were away a bit).

Is it easy to change your direct debit with TE?

I fear they might just go bust after 6 months, and then customers might be unable to leap back to the warmth of Octopus!

bristolleedsfan

cfw1994 said:

However!

We currently pay £150pcm - *including* gas, yet TE suggest the bill for JUST electricity with them would be £184.83pcm 🧐

Our electricity bill for a full month (mid Nov to Dec) was £58 for electricity, gas was 174 (we were away a bit).

Contradiction ???????

BTW, I think TE customers are paying by variable DD.

tlcgrantham

Unless they’ve changed it recently they only offer full payment by variable direct debit on receipt of your energy statement so you can’t alter your DD. I remember their estimation on their quote page was way over for me too but it’s irrelevant as you only pay for what you use. It’s hard to see how Go could be cheaper for you as the SC, peak rate and cheap rates are all lower with TE. IF ( and they may well not ) they do go bust you will owe them money, rather than the other way round, and you will have saved a lot of money while they exist.