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

nekr0mantik

tlcgrantham said:

nekr0mantik said:

im tempted to switch to TE Smile from octopus tracker. Seems much cheaper but feels wrong as no one else estimates £53 a month for elec. Current Octopus tracker I pay £60 to £65 a month.

TE estimates aren’t reliable. It’s best to do your own calculations which is difficult on a variable tariff like Smile or Agile. Why not compare Tracker with TE lifestyle which is a fixed tariff and very likely to work out cheaper for you?

Its hard to compare tracker as costs are unknown. Comparing the 2 fixed, TE is cheaper.

TE yearly estimated use matches what Octopus has for my yearly amount. 3000kwh

Newbie_John

nekr0mantik said:

im tempted to switch to TE Smile from octopus tracker. Seems much cheaper but feels wrong as no one else estimates £53 a month for elec. Current Octopus tracker I pay £60 to £65 a month.

How can anyone rely on estimates? Especially on tarrif like smile? When I was on Agile I roughly knew how many kWh I will use but the final cost varied between £56 and £180 per month. 
And that's purely with preparation for next day prices announced at 4pm. With Smile you have no clue what's waiting for you - so you won't be able to make most of cheap periods and how high are the peaks? When are the peaks? Nobody knows for sure.

Saying that your bill will be just a randomly generated number.

masonic

Have to agree with the above, Smile is an interesting tariff, but due to lack of information it would be a huge leap of faith.

nekr0mantik

true

Then it looks like Prime will be next cheapest.

Newbie_John

nekr0mantik said:

true

Then it looks like Prime will be next cheapest.

What time do you use electricity and how much?

Prime is 22p + 36p charge
Lifestyle 5p - has 23p from 6-9:30, 11:30-22 5p from 0-6, and 13p 9:30-11:30, 22:00-0
Lifestyle Pensioner - has 24p all day apart from 6:30-10 at 15p and 16-21 also 15p

Prime makes no sense unless you use 1kWh a day and rely on standing charge being cheap.

If you can shift -> Lifestyle 5p
If you can't shift -> Lifestyle Pensioner

nekr0mantik

Newbie_John said:

nekr0mantik said:

true

Then it looks like Prime will be next cheapest.

What time do you use electricity and how much?

Prime is 22p + 36p charge
Lifestyle 5p - has 23p from 6-9:30, 11:30-22 5p from 0-6, and 13p 9:30-11:30, 22:00-0
Lifestyle Pensioner - has 24p all day apart from 6:30-10 at 15p and 16-21 also 15p

Prime makes no sense unless you use 1kWh a day and rely on standing charge being cheap.

If you can shift -> Lifestyle 5p
If you can't shift -> Lifestyle Pensioner

I use it all day really. My heating is not included. I work from home so slightly less in morning and then after 5pm I put tv or music on but have PC on 24/7. Around 250 to 260 a day.

Newbie_John

250-260.. what's that? kWh a day ?

You have 8 different Lifestyle tarrifs, run it through all of them and see what comes cheapest.

Pensioner does look good for your lifestyle, there's also Work from home lifestyle but it doesn't look that good sadly.

nekr0mantik

Newbie_John said:

250-260.. what's that? kWh a day ?

You have 8 different Lifestyle tarrifs, run it through all of them and see what comes cheapest.

Pensioner does look good for your lifestyle, there's also Work from home lifestyle but it doesn't look that good sadly.

yes kWh

I cant see pensioner. Only lifestyle on its own.

maybe in my postcode only 1 lifestyle tariff available.

Newbie_John

nekr0mantik said:

Newbie_John said:

250-260.. what's that? kWh a day ?

You have 8 different Lifestyle tarrifs, run it through all of them and see what comes cheapest.

Pensioner does look good for your lifestyle, there's also Work from home lifestyle but it doesn't look that good sadly.

yes kWh

I cant see pensioner. Only lifestyle on its own.

maybe in my postcode only 1 lifestyle tariff available.

Nope, expand that green menu "Answer some questions to get a more accurate quote" and you get bunch of questions - selecting Pensioner - will change Lifestyle rates to Pensioner rates, selecting any other combinations shows different values (close the menu and see how the chart changed). There's 8 possible variations.

nekr0mantik

Newbie_John said:

nekr0mantik said:

Newbie_John said:

250-260.. what's that? kWh a day ?

You have 8 different Lifestyle tarrifs, run it through all of them and see what comes cheapest.

Pensioner does look good for your lifestyle, there's also Work from home lifestyle but it doesn't look that good sadly.

yes kWh

I cant see pensioner. Only lifestyle on its own.

maybe in my postcode only 1 lifestyle tariff available.

Nope, expand that green menu "Answer some questions to get a more accurate quote" and you get bunch of questions - selecting Pensioner - will change Lifestyle rates to Pensioner rates, selecting any other combinations shows different values (close the menu and see how the chart changed). There's 8 possible variations.

ah ok thanks

I am not pensioner tho so if they check they will find out ha