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

masonic

Chrysalis said:

TE are adding their own readings on the readings page now, interestingly they added one the day after I migrated 11th Jan (a days usage on TE), which is lower than Octopus used for a final reading, so Octopus caught red handed playing games.

The two readings they added for me were very wrong (well above current reading), so I'd suggest checking if yours makes sense.

I'm maintaining a strict policy of radio silence with Octopus, as I'm within a hair's breadth of my £40 payout. Otherwise I'd be checking what they intend to use for my final bill.

masonic

coupleuk said:

So, Tomato have edited my account, added in their own meter reading and (if I hadn't checked) would be charging me an extra £35+ for energy I never used.

Not only are they incompetent it seems they may be thieves too - I await their response to this latest issue.

Im thinking I need to involve Ofgem now as I cannot see Tomato getting their act together any time soon. 

If you are on a TOU tariff then they don't actually use meter readings for billing, so there may be no effect of this.

Ofgem don't get involved in customer complaints. You'd first need to complain to Tomato, then if they don't solve in 8 weeks you can go to the Energy Ombudsman.

Newbie_John

coupleuk said:

The latest error by Tomato (despite still not receiving any bills since I joined on September 1st and them messing up 2 meters).

Anyway, I decided to have a look on the Meter Readings area in MyWatts - only to find the meter reading I submitted on September 1st (thankfully have a meter photo) had been moved to September 8th and a much lower reading had been put under September 1st.

I assumed Octopus and Tomato had agreed a different changeover reading to mine.

I decided to dig out my final bill from Octopus only to discover the exact same reading I had submitted to Tomato.

So, Tomato have edited my account, added in their own meter reading and (if I hadn't checked) would be charging me an extra £35+ for energy I never used.

Not only are they incompetent it seems they may be thieves too - I await their response to this latest issue.

Im thinking I need to involve Ofgem now as I cannot see Tomato getting their act together any time soon. 

Wait, so you haven't paid a penny.. what have they stolen from you? 

I think every other provider can be seen as a thief - charging more than your bill is as Variable Direct Debits are not default and they charge people more than they should, keeping a cosy balance.. 

crumpet_man

Would Tomato reporting to Octopus a meter reading lower than the real one benefit the customer?  The final bill to Octopus would be lower than it should be and Tomato are charging based on actual usage, not meter readings.  

masonic

crumpet_man said:

Would Tomato reporting to Octopus a meter reading lower than the real one benefit the customer?  The final bill to Octopus would be lower than it should be and Tomato are charging based on actual usage, not meter readings. 

Potentially yes. If you stayed for over a year (nod to those who don't think they'll survive that long) it would probably end up being written off due to back billing rules even if Tomato tried to claim it on the way out.

Veteransaver

I had my January bill and there were several slots missing on 31st January Seems they have just billed me anyway. 
Not sure they'll correct it and the bill is cheaper than it should be, but doesn't say much for the completeness of their systems

Gerry1

Chrysalis said:

TE are adding their own readings on the readings page now, interestingly they added one the day after I migrated 11th Jan (a days usage on TE), which is lower than Octopus used for a final reading, so Octopus caught red handed playing games.

coupleuk said:

I assumed Octopus and Tomato had agreed a different changeover reading to mine.
I decided to dig out my final bill from Octopus only to discover the exact same reading I had submitted to Tomato.
So, Tomato have edited my account, added in their own meter reading and (if I hadn't checked) would be charging me an extra £35+ for energy I never used.

crumpet_man said:

Would Tomato reporting to Octopus a meter reading lower than the real one benefit the customer?  The final bill to Octopus would be lower than it should be and Tomato are charging based on actual usage, not meter readings.  

@Chrysalis @coupleuk @crumpet_man The involvement of The Mysterious Third Party may explain some or all of these cases.

JKS$(

I remain baffled by the question of 'when is a SMETS2 meter reading not a meter reading?'

My meter readings seem to be ignored by both TE & Octopus.

I manually changed my meter reading on myWatts on 6 Feb to 5239 as TE had it as 5276. I added a reading of 5243 the next day. Both were from photos provided by my maintenance team as my meter is locked away.

Today I've looked at myWatts & there is a second meter reading for 7 Feb of 5278.

I've not been home for some days & the only thing that has been on is my fridge freezer. The consumption data on my Watts & Bright App is the same. The myWatts meter reading of 5278 is too high.

MyWatts is showing a meter reading for 10 & 14 Feb, neither of which I've added. Is anyone else getting meter readings added to their myWatts? Any idea what time of day is the reading being taken?

It looks as if TE have overridden my own meter readings, which is frustrating. TE first meter reading was 5276 on 6 Feb - not sure where this has come from as Octopus give a closing reading of 5242.8.

I've disputed that meter reading with Octopus, using the 2 photos of lower meter readings, but they tell me my final bill is correct & 'I must have used more electricity than I realised.'

Octopus have told me they can read the 5 digit number on my meter (as opposed to measuring the consumption & taking one figure away from another). If they can, why do they insist their figures are so different from mine?

Can TE read the meter, or are the figures quoted just assumptions based on usage?

I shall ask maintenance to take yet another meter reading on Monday & submit that to myWatts. 

QrizB

Someone senior in TE was quoted earlier in this thread as saying (and I paraphrase) meter index readings aren't important, it's the 30-minute data that matters.

You, I and possibly even Ofgem might all disagree, but if that's Tomato's official line it might mean they take a less-than-rigorous approach to the meter readings shown in MyWatts.

masonic

JKS$( said:

MyWatts is showing a meter reading for 10 & 14 Feb, neither of which I've added. Is anyone else getting meter readings added to their myWatts? Any idea what time of day is the reading being taken?

I've mentioned a few times that so far I only have 2 meter readings showing in MyWatts, for 2nd and 3rd Feb, almost a month after my switch, both are the same figure, which is over 1000 kWh too high. So I have my doubts they are capable of pulling index readings from meters yet (they don't use these for billing, as mentioned above).

I've not attempted to enter my own readings, other than providing an opening reading for 7th Jan by email with photo. Octopus hasn't issued me with a final bill yet.

For the reason why Octopus might use a different closing reading than the one you provide, see https://octopus.energy/blog/secret-life-opening-meter-reading/