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

rp1974

Gerry1 said:

Sounds like Symbio 2.0 !

They were terribly cheap.  Or rather, absolutely terrible but very cheap.

Ah,the much maligned Symbio,takes me back to the good old days of 20p Standing Charge and 18p per Unit,only three years since that bubble burst,the Symbio thread made for some quite interesting reading,usually hand wringing,general wailing and gnashing of teeth.
I quite enjoyed the monthly overpayment followed by a negative bill the month after,rinse and repeat,only real surprise was they lasted as long as they did,perhaps pertinent for the tomatoes.

Sachakins

BarelySentientAI said:

wrf12345 said:

It is illegal to stop supplying electricity, I believe, even with debt they switch you to a prepayment meter (which will be Smart) and load the debt on to the meter... old meters have dates after which they lose their certification and then will be replaced with SMart meters, don't think there is much you can do about it. SMart meters get you access to some interesting tariffs. Accuracy of all meters is plus or minus three percent so they can work out slightly cheaper or more expensive depending on how far out they are within that range (my new Smart meter was showing lower usage than the old one but only by a couple of percent, but every little helps).

It is perfectly legal to stop supplying electricity under certain conditions.

One of those conditions is when the customer refuses to allow the supplier to fit the meter they choose.

It's a specific provision in the Electricity Act 1989.

Refuse a smart meter, they are legally allowed to disconnect you.

I don't think it's ever happened, but that's a different question.

I don't think the disconnect you, the just terminate your contract and you need a new supplier?

GingerTim

Sachakins said:

BarelySentientAI said:

wrf12345 said:

It is illegal to stop supplying electricity, I believe, even with debt they switch you to a prepayment meter (which will be Smart) and load the debt on to the meter... old meters have dates after which they lose their certification and then will be replaced with SMart meters, don't think there is much you can do about it. SMart meters get you access to some interesting tariffs. Accuracy of all meters is plus or minus three percent so they can work out slightly cheaper or more expensive depending on how far out they are within that range (my new Smart meter was showing lower usage than the old one but only by a couple of percent, but every little helps).

It is perfectly legal to stop supplying electricity under certain conditions.

One of those conditions is when the customer refuses to allow the supplier to fit the meter they choose.

It's a specific provision in the Electricity Act 1989.

Refuse a smart meter, they are legally allowed to disconnect you.

I don't think it's ever happened, but that's a different question.

I don't think the disconnect you, the just terminate your contract and you need a new supplier?

Or stick you on to some more expensive standard tariff?

BarelySentientAI

Sachakins said:

BarelySentientAI said:

wrf12345 said:

It is illegal to stop supplying electricity, I believe, even with debt they switch you to a prepayment meter (which will be Smart) and load the debt on to the meter... old meters have dates after which they lose their certification and then will be replaced with SMart meters, don't think there is much you can do about it. SMart meters get you access to some interesting tariffs. Accuracy of all meters is plus or minus three percent so they can work out slightly cheaper or more expensive depending on how far out they are within that range (my new Smart meter was showing lower usage than the old one but only by a couple of percent, but every little helps).

It is perfectly legal to stop supplying electricity under certain conditions.

One of those conditions is when the customer refuses to allow the supplier to fit the meter they choose.

It's a specific provision in the Electricity Act 1989.

Refuse a smart meter, they are legally allowed to disconnect you.

I don't think it's ever happened, but that's a different question.

I don't think the disconnect you, the just terminate your contract and you need a new supplier?

The law does allow them to go further.  The wording in the Act actually says "discontinue the supply", talking about the physical supply not the contract or billing mechanism.  It's one of the reasons that the suppliers have power of entry.

Otherwise, what's to stop someone refusing a smart meter, having their contract terminated, and then just not signing up with a new supplier and getting free electricity?

In practice, there are many things that would be tried before that, but it's certainly wrong to describe it as "illegal to stop supplying electricity".

Newbie_John

I think that this clause about possibly being charged more than 5p (if I use too much) really prevents me from switching.
Looking at the estimated usage it shows my July being like 75% of January, when realistically my January bill it can be up to 10x higher (no gas).
So if I aim at 5p to be later charged 25p, it's just to risky 😜

born_again

Newbie_John said:

I think that this clause about possibly being charged more than 5p (if I use too much) really prevents me from switching.
Looking at the estimated usage it shows my July being like 75% of January, when realistically my January bill it can be up to 10x higher (no gas).
So if I aim at 5p to be later charged 25p, it's just to risky 😜

Not going to encourage people to get a EV..

coupleuk

UPDATE:

I went "live" on September 1st

- my 1st meter is showing on the MyWatts App and the submitted Meter Read is on there, though no usage is showing as yet.

I'm not overly concerned with that as I also transferred another property (to Ovo) on the same day and usage isn't showing there yet either. From prior experience with Octopus it can take 2 weeks.

- however, my 2nd meter (at the same address as the first) is showing a "fetching meter details" error on the MyWatts App - I was expecting this might happen given the 2 meters at one address situation.

A phone call to Tomato today (which was answered in under 20 seconds by a real person) and I updated them on the situation (even though each meter has it's own registered address at the property) - they have escalated it to the tech team.

I had emailed 5 days ago and no response so certainly better to call them.

I will give it another week for Meter 1 to start showing usage on the App and for them to figure out Meter 2.

YES, it's clumsy but to be honest it's the same experience I had when I'd moved to Octopus so will just allow a little more time.

coupleuk

lohr500 said:

Hi @ppc1
Are you any further forward in getting data from the myWatts app following your switch?
I am in a similar situation.

Switch should have happened yesterday.
Nothing on myWatts
SMETS2 meter still shows EDF as supplier.
EDF website now shows minimal info so I suspect switch has occured.
No communication from EDF or TE.
Usage data still available on Bright App so meter is still communicating.

I am going to call TE this afternoon when I get home to ask them if the switch has happened and how I can make sure the agreed you rates are being applied.

Interested to hear how you are getting on.

Cheers

Any update on how your switch went ?

Mike360

Mike360 said:

I did a quote on the site and as I don't have a smart meter and don't want one, the suggestion was Tomato Prime fixed for 12 months, for those with or without smart meters. The quotes were cheaper to what I am paying. The bottom of the quote page also says the quote is inclusive of VAT.

However, in their T&Cs it says...

8.4 If You do not have a Smart Meter at Your Premises, We may install one for You. We
will arrange an appointment with You for installation. If You repeatedly refuse to
allow Us to install a Smart Meter, We may terminate Your Supply Contract
immediately.

and

9.2 Electricity costs are exclusive of taxes, duties, and levies (excluding VAT) and You
shall in addition, pay an amount equal to those taxes, duties and levies chargeable
on those energy costs on delivery of a Bill.

All a bit confusing. I am also one of them people who do variable direct debit monthly whereby I provide a meter reading each month so I pay for what I use rather than the supplier choosing set amounts and adjusting as and when. It's not clear if they allow customers like me who have this preference.

I might email them.

Email not replied to so called them which was quicker. It looks like the terms and conditions seem out of kilt in some cases as I was assured the rates were fixed and inclusive of VAT. These T&C anomalies will be looked at to avoid confusion i was told. Smart meters are not compulsory also. One of two people mentioned T&Cs agreed usage and charges for overuse, I spoke to them about that, they just said I pay for what I use by providing a meter reading and them sending me a bill each  month. So I would just ring them to clarify things. I am likely to move to them as it looks like a win win with no exit fees if they turn out to be incompetent or not promising the rates in the quote.

Mike360

Mike360 said:

Mike360 said:

I did a quote on the site and as I don't have a smart meter and don't want one, the suggestion was Tomato Prime fixed for 12 months, for those with or without smart meters. The quotes were cheaper to what I am paying. The bottom of the quote page also says the quote is inclusive of VAT.

However, in their T&Cs it says...

8.4 If You do not have a Smart Meter at Your Premises, We may install one for You. We
will arrange an appointment with You for installation. If You repeatedly refuse to
allow Us to install a Smart Meter, We may terminate Your Supply Contract
immediately.

and

9.2 Electricity costs are exclusive of taxes, duties, and levies (excluding VAT) and You
shall in addition, pay an amount equal to those taxes, duties and levies chargeable
on those energy costs on delivery of a Bill.

All a bit confusing. I am also one of them people who do variable direct debit monthly whereby I provide a meter reading each month so I pay for what I use rather than the supplier choosing set amounts and adjusting as and when. It's not clear if they allow customers like me who have this preference.

I might email them.

Email not replied to so called them which was quicker. It looks like the terms and conditions seem out of kilt in some cases as I was assured the rates were fixed and inclusive of VAT. These T&C anomalies will be looked at to avoid confusion i was told. Smart meters are not compulsory also. One of two people mentioned T&Cs agreed usage and charges for overuse, I spoke to them about that, they just said I pay for what I use by providing a meter reading and them sending me a bill each  month. So I would just ring them to clarify things. I am likely to move to them as it looks like a win win with no exit fees if they turn out to be incompetent or not promising the rates in the quote.

I  just switched over to them via a phone call. Got my account set up. My current supplier been made aware as just got an email from them saying we're sorry to see you go. Hopefully the billing etc goes smoothly going forward.