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

bagand96

JohnPo said:

bagand96 said:

But what rates were you shown on the website when you signed up?

I'm on the same tariff as you and joined the same week. On the website graph when I signed up I was shown 5..004p / 14.0427p / 23.2628p with standing charge of 42.8563p.

My contract came through and like you says 4.77p / 13.37p / 22.16p and standing charge 40.82p.

The contract rates are excluding VAT, but when the VAT is added it matches what was shown on their website at sign up.  I do think there was (is?) some confusion as somewhere else they stated all rates include VAT , but in my case at least the rates are correct based on the web quote.

When I signed up the website showed the prices without stating in any that they were excluding VAT ! - I saved screenshots during the sign up process.

Interesting, another error that it seems they fixed, certainly when I signed up (we must have been within days)

Interesting to see what they do about it, ckeselt an error with how they quoted, however as a consumer it's reasonable for you to expect what you signed up for. 

Bendo

Newbie_John said:

Unless they pulled da⁶ta more frequently, if you know customer is leaving why not attempt to pull it hourly so you get their final consumption, bill them, close the account - oh yeah, Octopus is unable to do it - having hundreds of IT people it can't do it.. it can only get the data for the past day, once a day - TE with probably 1 developer can access data multiple times a day already.. 

There is a simple reason for that.  Pulling the data for 10 million + meters is an entirely different proposition than for the several thousand Tomatoe do.

Accessing the half hourly reads via dcc pulls are not supposed to be a real time thing,  thats why Octopus developed an appropriate device for that, and why some 3rd parties have done the same.

As an aside, having upto date data in a proprietary system with no api access benefits very few people anyway.

masonic

Newbie_John said:

Unless they pulled data more frequently, if you know customer is leaving why not attempt to pull it hourly so you get their final consumption, bill them, close the account - oh yeah, Octopus is unable to do it - having hundreds of IT people it can't do it.. it can only get the data for the past day, once a day - TE with probably 1 developer can access data multiple times a day already.. 

Octopus lost access to my meter at about 18:30 on the day before my switch (my Home Mini got kicked out at that time). Even if they pulled just before then they would be missing 6 hours.

Right now, MyWatts is only showing my data up to Saturday at 07:30, so even they can't keep it up to date over the weekend (Bright and Loop have all of Sat, but only part of Sun).

Please let's not try to defend the indefensible. A validated change of supply reading is a prerequisite (and regulatory requirement) for issuing opening/closing bills and there is no excuse for an energy supplier not knowing this. I'm willing to entertain the notion that Farouk has gone rogue in making this comment and his some of his staff would facepalm at upon seeing it, given they are stressing to customers the importance of providing their opening read within 5 days of the supply start date.

Qyburn

Bendo said:

There is a simple reason for that.  Pulling the data for 10 million + meters is an entirely different proposition than for the several thousand Tomatoe do.

Still not actually very much data, assuming half hourly pulls would retrieve only the latest data.

Somebody

I went live with Tomato as of today, from Octopus Tracker.  I took a snapshot of the meter reading at 00:05 on the IHD. 

I received a final bill from Octopus via email at 08:01 this morning with a reading that was 25kWh lower than my own meter reading.

Should I ask Octopus to correct it or should I just leave it? 

TIA

masonic

Somebody said:

I went live with Tomato as of today, from Octopus Tracker.  I took a snapshot of the meter reading at 00:05 on the IHD. 

I received a final bill from Octopus via email at 08:01 this morning with a reading that was 25kWh lower than my own meter reading.

Should I ask Octopus to correct it or should I just leave it? 

In my case they took a smart read on the day before my switch and billed to that. It was not a final bill (which can only be issued once the change of supply reading is validated - I am still waiting for this). Could it be they've done similar for you?

Largs

Somebody said:

I went live with Tomato as of today, from Octopus Tracker.  I took a snapshot of the meter reading at 00:05 on the IHD. 

I received a final bill from Octopus via email at 08:01 this morning with a reading that was 25kWh lower than my own meter reading.

Should I ask Octopus to correct it or should I just leave it? 

TIA

The Octopus website says this

"Industry rules state that we're not even allowed to challenge a handover reading that's less than 250kWh (for electricity – or 109m3 / 39ft3 for gas) different from your real meter reading"

Somebody

masonic said:

Somebody said:

I went live with Tomato as of today, from Octopus Tracker.  I took a snapshot of the meter reading at 00:05 on the IHD. 

I received a final bill from Octopus via email at 08:01 this morning with a reading that was 25kWh lower than my own meter reading.

Should I ask Octopus to correct it or should I just leave it? 

In my case they took a smart read on the day before my switch and billed to that. It was not a final bill (which can only be issued once the change of supply reading is validated - I am still waiting for this). Could it be they've done similar for you?

My normal billing date is 26th for dual fuel on Octopus.  The fact that they sent me a bill just for electricity this morning suggests it's the final bill - I'm not going to argue over 25kWh "undercharge".  This could potentially mean the 25kWh be charged at 5p/kWh over at Tomato.   Here's hoping.......

masonic

Somebody said:

masonic said:

Somebody said:

I went live with Tomato as of today, from Octopus Tracker.  I took a snapshot of the meter reading at 00:05 on the IHD. 

I received a final bill from Octopus via email at 08:01 this morning with a reading that was 25kWh lower than my own meter reading.

Should I ask Octopus to correct it or should I just leave it? 

In my case they took a smart read on the day before my switch and billed to that. It was not a final bill (which can only be issued once the change of supply reading is validated - I am still waiting for this). Could it be they've done similar for you?

My normal billing date is 26th for dual fuel on Octopus.  The fact that they sent me a bill just for electricity this morning suggests it's the final bill - I'm not going to argue over 25kWh "undercharge".  This could potentially mean the 25kWh be charged at 5p/kWh over at Tomato.   Here's hoping......

The final bill will state it is your final bill. My normal billing date is the 21st, but I received an interim bill to the 6th Jan. A bill is generated whenever they take a smart reading. See screenshot in https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81214237/#Comment_81214237 for an example.

It is impossible for them to have sent you a valid final bill on switch day. More likely you'll receive an actual final bill in due course.

Chrysalis

Done some more digging as I still have no consumption data, turns out some customers have been told they are having issues with some SMETS2 meters as well, getting offered the same discount as SMETS1 customers.  Both IHD and the meter received a welcome to tomato energy message.
Also my email to Octopus regarding closing bill didnt even get a reply, looks like they waiting for that DCC thing and dont trust my reading.