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

Chrysalis

debitcardmayhem said:

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.

Does my watts actually show the meter reading?

Yes its in the reading section, I have three of them, one I submitted, one a day later they added, and one for the first bill..Octopus reading is just ridiculous looking at the values TE have added.

Chrysalis

masonic said:

Encouragingly, for the second weekend in a row, MyWatts has outperformed Loop and Bright and kept up with my energy data. Fingers crossed they've fixed whatever issue was causing it to stop updating at weekends.

Its a lot better here as well, I dont get current day, I am now getting up to previous day now though (including weekends) which is good enough.

causeequalstime

bazray said:

causeequalstime said:

bazray said:

I joined Tomato December 21st 2024, the setup of Mywatts seems to look okay and I have setup Bright as a double check, oddly the total monthly usage is slightly different on Mywatts its 197.164 kwh and on Bright its 199.112. It's not a huge variation but I can't understand why they would be different if the data is pulled from the same source, or is it just rounding errors or something?

Also I have been with them for 7 weeks now and I haven't had my first bill, is that common?

On the plus side by shifting washing and dishwasher etc... to cheap 5p rate I'm averaging around 15p a unit if they bill me correctly lol.

Thanks in advance

I joined on December 14th and I have also not had a bill yet. 

You might be in the same boat as me, have a look on the Mywatts app and select the 30 min interval. Then go back through the days and look for any gaps. I have a few on January 31st, but I also setup the Bright app and that doesn't have the gapps, so it seems the Mywatts app misses some readings and they can't make a bill. I'm going to message them.

Just to update this, I have just now received my December and January bills. Both months had no missing data in Mywatts so no idea why they have taken so long. My February usage appears to have one day with incomplete data on Mywatts (but not missing on the bright app) so not sure I will get my February bill on time.

WibbleBaaaaaa

masonic said:

Boohoo said:

masonic said:

Boohoo said:

masonic said:

Boohoo said:

Octopus will blame Tomato and Tomato will blame Octopus for the incorrect readings.

If you have switched to Tomato from Octopus, then why would Octopus have any business knowing about the readings recorded by Tomato (correct or otherwise) for dates after your supply with Octopus ceased?

I don't know?
Octopus gave me a bill upto and including the last day with them and used smart meter read.
A few days later I get a bill for 1 days use 10/02/25 for 47 units using a non smart meter reading.
I was with Tomato starting 10/2/25 which I gave the same meter reading as the one Octopus used.
I got an email reply from Octopus saying Tomato have the higher reading and used that to send me another bill.

So you gave Tomato the 09/02/25 smart reading Octopus took rather than a reading taken on 10/02/25? You wrote in your earlier post that you have not put any readings into MyWatts, so would that include this reading (i.e. you provided this reading via email or telephone)? All change of supply readings go through a validation process where they are checked for reasonableness using your estimated annual consumption (seasonally adjusted). So a reading can come out of that process different. Zero usage for that last day with Octopus might trigger that. The issue you then have is that Tomato only use HH readings for billing, so if the CoS reading is higher than it was at midnight on your switch date, you could end up being charged twice for the same units of energy. TBH I think you'll have more joy applying pressure to Octopus on the grounds 47 units is way above your typical consumption in one day and to have burned through that you'd have had to do something pretty spectacular (assuming your usage typically is much lower).

The readings you mentioned on Friday and today are irrelevant to that, and should not be sent to Octopus.

Yes I gave the Octopus reading to Tomato at 8am on 10/2.
I have only given 1 reading to Mywatts.
The 47 units difference was for the 1 days electric plus 1 day s/c.
The bill upto switch has the correct days of s/c on it so I don't know why I have to pay 1 extra day when I am with Tomato who will also charge me for that day.
I have not sent any readings to Octopus as last reading used in bill was smart meter reading and the bill for 1 days use was reading that was not smart, from me or estimated reading according to the bill.

Tomato will charge you for usage from 10/02/25 onward. Since they bill using half hourly consumption data, it is not possible for them to do otherwise. They are not entitled to charge you for usage on 09/02/25. The smart reading Octopus took on 09/02/25 covers your usage up to the end of 08/02/25 as it is the reading taken at 09/02/25 at 00:00 before any energy is used on the 9th.

The 47 units is an estimate of what you used on 09/02/25, because presumably you did not use 0 on that day. I think it is unlikely you actually used 47 units, so the true answer is somewhere in between. Is there any reason why you did not take an actual reading at the start of the day on 10/02/25 and instead used the 09/02/25 reading? You would be in a stronger position with a concrete reading, preferably backed up by a photograph of the meter showing the reading.

Actually i have no idea what Octopus are up to either, because i switched from them on the 9th, and they sent me a bill on the 14th which i thought was my final bill, but it was not,  because when i checked it, the bill is only up to the 7th, so they are missing a whole day, yet my octopus account shows the correct last meter reading from 00:00 of the 9th, so i am beginning to think this is deliberate because with a final bill they will also have to refund me my present £232 in credit, and i won't get that refunded until they send the final bill.......so yeah what are octopus up to with this nonsense?

Newbie_John

I think thats what Octopus should have done in first place, make the last day free - issue the bill right away, close account.
In my case I've been waiting 4 months now.. that last day was like £2 for me - but instead they gave me £35 late bill payment, 16 coffees = £40, 32p on WoF .. still nothing though - now hope it will go over a year and it will be free

masonic

Newbie_John said:

I think thats what Octopus should have done in first place, make the last day free - issue the bill right away, close account.
In my case I've been waiting 4 months now.. that last day was like £2 for me - but instead they gave me £35 late bill payment, 16 coffees = £40, 32p on WoF .. still nothing though - now hope it will go over a year and it will be free

It won't be free if there is credit on your account. Back billing rules only apply where your account is also underfunded.

It is good practice to take a smart reading and bill up to the day before the switch. The problem is the last day. Agree it would cost them less to waive it for the customer when they cannot sort out within 6 weeks.

Seems also to be a very good idea to get any credit refunded before switching.

JKS$(

My experiences with TE & my switch have been fine - my issues are all to do with Octopus & my final bill, so while I'm frustrated, I'm very happy with TE so far.

I'm not due my first bill for at least a few more days. MyWatts has worked well, haven't noticed any gaps & it tallies with Bright App consumption data. 

Like someone else on here, I've had a ridiculously high (for me) final bill from Octopus. I've submitted 2 photos to prove that their final reading was wrong, but it doesn't seem to matter. They insist I've used that electricity, & if photos are not enough to prove otherwise, I don't know what else to do.

Regarding meter reading data on the Octopus App - thanks to those who told me about this. I can see them (no idea why they aren't available on the website) but the last reading is still incorrect.

I've asked Octopus to look (again) at my photos of meter readings, their actual consumption data from mid December until switch late Jan, factor in that I'm a new occupier who has turned off the immersion that the previous occupier left on 24/7, consider that their final bill is an estimate based on historic meter data, & is actually incorrect. Hoping if it goes higher up, they may agree with me...

While it's not a large amount of money, it looks like I'm not the only one who isn't getting an accurate final bill from Octopus, but is being expected to pay for energy they haven't used.

Octopus took the d/d for that final day's supply on 21st Feb, still showing as pending payment on my Octopus account. 

bristolleedsfan

JKS$( said:

My experiences with TE & my switch have been fine - my issues are all to do with Octopus & my final bill, so while I'm frustrated, I'm very happy with TE so far.

I'm not due my first bill for at least a few more days. MyWatts has worked well, haven't noticed any gaps & it tallies with Bright App consumption data. 

Like someone else on here, I've had a ridiculously high (for me) final bill from Octopus. I've submitted 2 photos to prove that their final reading was wrong, but it doesn't seem to matter. They insist I've used that electricity, & if photos are not enough to prove otherwise, I don't know what else to do.

Regarding meter reading data on the Octopus App - thanks to those who told me about this. I can see them (no idea why they aren't available on the website) but the last reading is still incorrect.

I've asked Octopus to look (again) at my photos of meter readings, their actual consumption data from mid December until switch late Jan, factor in that I'm a new occupier who has turned off the immersion that the previous occupier left on 24/7, consider that their final bill is an estimate based on historic meter data, & is actually incorrect. Hoping if it goes higher up, they may agree with me...

While it's not a large amount of money, it looks like I'm not the only one who isn't getting an accurate final bill from Octopus, but is being expected to pay for energy they haven't used.

Octopus took the d/d for that final day's supply on 21st Feb, still showing as pending payment on my Octopus account. 

If your final Octopus Bill is estimated with numeric value after decimal point then it is not a valid final reading.

Old supplier and new supplier closing/opening readings have to be the same to avoid paying for same energy twice.

https://octopus.energy/unhappy/

Alnat1

Octopus are probably using "the mysterious 3rd party" reading, which they are legally forced to do. This may be higher or lower than the actual reading but has to be used by both the losing and gaining suppliers.

The problem seems to be happening because Tomato don't use readings at all and totally rely on the 30 minute usage figures. They therefore can't start charging only when the meter has passed the reading specified by the 3rd party and they start to charge from midnight on the date the account is transferred.

The problem lies with Tomato and not Octopus. 

bristolleedsfan

Alnat1 said:

Octopus are probably using "the mysterious 3rd party" reading, which they are legally forced to do. This may be higher or lower than the actual reading but has to be used by both the losing and gaining suppliers.

The problem seems to be happening because Tomato don't use readings at all and totally rely on the 30 minute usage figures. They therefore can't start charging only when the meter has passed the reading specified by the 3rd party and they start to charge from midnight on the date the account is transferred.

The problem lies with Tomato and not Octopus. 

Increasing number of instances where Octopus are creating its own estimated readings higher than opening reading used by new supplier, they did it to me Gas, my switch out was not to T.E. Octopus have not been correcting on its own accord, consumers who contact Octopus about the issue often end up ping pong messaging which was my experience.

Another example of initially overcharging on final account, nothing to do with T.E 
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81258086/#Comment_81258086