IF Tomato Goes Bust

coupleuk

I switched to Tomato and went live with 2 addresses on September 1st last year.

They have failed to bill me despite me providing meter readings every 2 weeks or so.

Their system stopped reporting smart meter reads after the first 6 weeks and nothing since.

What happens if they go bust?

Will a "supplier of last resort" bill me at Tomato rates until the day they take over or will they bill me according to the price cap all the way back to September 1st?

lohr500

coupleuk said:

I switched to Tomato and went live with 2 addresses on September 1st last year.

They have failed to bill me despite me providing meter readings every 2 weeks or so.

Their system stopped reporting smart meter reads after the first 6 weeks and nothing since.

What happens if they go bust?

Will a "supplier of last resort" bill me at Tomato rates until the day they take over or will they bill me according to the price cap all the way back to September 1st?

That's a very good question and one of the reasons why I jumped ship last year.

I don't know the answer but my gut feel says it could get very messy, especially if you can't move away from the SOLR until all past debts are agreed/settled.

Or are the past debts nothing to do with the SOLR, and a discussion would have to take place with the administrators of the failed business? 

Are you able to get the half hourly readings going back to September using a third party service like Bright? If so, I would keep them safe and update them regularly so you can calculate what your debt should be, based on the agreed contract. As the saying goes, "Hope for the best, but plan for the worst".

I do hope they don't go bust and have sufficient backing to see their way through their current troubles. But who knows? 

MWT

coupleuk said:

What happens if they go bust?

Will a "supplier of last resort" bill me at Tomato rates until the day they take over or will they bill me according to the price cap all the way back to September 1st?

In this hypothetical case the Administrators will first decide if they are going to chase outstanding payments or if they are going to pass the responsibility on to the SoLR.

In either case they can only pursue you for the amounts you owe under the original contract, but they can choose to ignore the Ofgem back-billing rules if the Administrators do it themselves.

GingerTim

lohr500 said:

coupleuk said:

I switched to Tomato and went live with 2 addresses on September 1st last year.

They have failed to bill me despite me providing meter readings every 2 weeks or so.

Their system stopped reporting smart meter reads after the first 6 weeks and nothing since.

What happens if they go bust?

Will a "supplier of last resort" bill me at Tomato rates until the day they take over or will they bill me according to the price cap all the way back to September 1st?

That's a very good question and one of the reasons why I jumped ship last year.



Are you able to get the half hourly readings going back to September using a third party service like Bright? If so, I would keep them safe and update them regularly so you can calculate what your debt should be, based on the agreed contract. ? 

I would agree that you should do this - but a hypothetical administrator may not be inclined to accept anything from a third party app.

coupleuk

lohr500 said:

coupleuk said:

I switched to Tomato and went live with 2 addresses on September 1st last year.

They have failed to bill me despite me providing meter readings every 2 weeks or so.

Their system stopped reporting smart meter reads after the first 6 weeks and nothing since.

What happens if they go bust?

Will a "supplier of last resort" bill me at Tomato rates until the day they take over or will they bill me according to the price cap all the way back to September 1st

Are you able to get the half hourly readings going back to September using a third party service like Bright? If so, I would keep them safe and update them regularly so you can calculate what your debt should be, based on the agreed contract.

The problem is I cannot sign up to Bright without a bill dated in the last 3 months.

coupleuk

According to their CEO, I'm now on 50% off for September and October.

Plus 15% off (so far) for November, December and January.

Hope they do manage to bill me before they go bust - but as they haven't in 8 months and counting then I won't hold my breath

QrizB

coupleuk said:

What happens if they go bust?
Will a "supplier of last resort" bill me at Tomato rates until the day they take over or will they bill me according to the price cap all the way back to September 1st?

There's been a mixture of approaches for past SoLR arrangements.

But whether it's the administrator or the SoLR, I'd expect them to try and bill you as best they can based on your written contract. That might not include any ad-hoc promises made on social media by the former CEO.

MWT

QrizB said:

coupleuk said:

What happens if they go bust?
Will a "supplier of last resort" bill me at Tomato rates until the day they take over or will they bill me according to the price cap all the way back to September 1st?

There's been a mixture of approaches for past SoLR arrangements.

But whether it's the administrator or the SoLR, I'd expect them to try and bill you as best they can based on your written contract. That might not include any ad-hoc promises made on social media by the former CEO.

The only thing I'd disagree with there is the use of the word 'might' instead of 'will'

TroubledTarts

Some people have got email confirmation of the 15% 50% and 100% discounts so I would personally go down this route and keep that stashed for the future.

Chrysalis

coupleuk said:

I switched to Tomato and went live with 2 addresses on September 1st last year.

They have failed to bill me despite me providing meter readings every 2 weeks or so.

Their system stopped reporting smart meter reads after the first 6 weeks and nothing since.

What happens if they go bust?

Will a "supplier of last resort" bill me at Tomato rates until the day they take over or will they bill me according to the price cap all the way back to September 1st?

I wouldnt be happy in your situation, push and push for them to fix if I was you.  Have edited out my comments on what might happen, as it seems I am wrong based on the above replies.

QrizB

It's probably worth noting that, as far as I can recall, we've yet not seen what happens when a smart tariff supplier goes under (one that's meant to be billing on 30-minute data). So if Tomato do fold (slice? dice? puree?) they will be the first, and it might bring complications.