Tomato in trouble - credit

flopsy1973

Hi I'm with Tomato Energy and they are in trouble apparently. If they fail any overpayment or credit with them what happens then ? Am I safe to be in credit with them ? 

QrizB

I'm not a Tomato customer but if I was, I wouldn't be keeping credit on my account.

masonic

Why would you have any credit? They bill via variable direct debit.

Standard rules apply and credit balances will be protected.

Newbie_John

I'm with them too.

My plan is to enjoy cheap prices as long as I can.
If they survive - win.
If they not - I will be moved to another provider in week/two weeks time through SOLR process.

Of the official news they have only been stopped from getting new customers.

Scot_39

I'd keep very good records of balance, bills and payments going forward - on your own - not relying on suppliers portals / online systems - so on paper or downloaded with backup on your own devices.

There were many posts here about demands - some for large amounts - issued in error - maybe even year plus after the SoLR failures - and so of people being pursued for payment.

flopsy1973

So I am protected with any credit with them and I get passed on to another company 

QrizB

flopsy1973 said:

So I am protected with any credit with them and I get passed on to another company 

Do you actually have any credit with Tomato? Or is this a hypothetical question?

t0rt0ise

flopsy1973 said:

So I am protected with any credit with them and I get passed on to another company 

Yes, if you have credit with them, if they go bust, the credit is paid back to you from all our bills which will go up in order to pay all the credit. So in effect you will pay it back to yourself! It's not a bank, which is where your money should be.

wrf12345

All these computer systems are full of gremlins so basically anything can happen so just keep records and meter readings if they go bang (probably best to start doing actual meter readings from the next bill point to be on the safe side with a photo on your phone). Even the big companies can mess up the billing so who knows what the small ones running their own prototype software will end up doing. On the other hand, may work out fine.

Newbie_John

How can you be in credit?

I don't think that's possible unless you pay to their bank account without being billed or your are billed - but you pay more.

Scot_39

flopsy1973 said:

Hi I'm with Tomato Energy and they are in trouble apparently. If they fail any overpayment or credit with them what happens then ? Am I safe to be in credit with them ? 

How do you pay ?

I thought though by default at least TE were a pseudo MVDD supplier - so you pay in arrears based on 100% of the months consumption - never in credit - after according to their T&Cs a bill is issued every 30 days - you then pay it - stat accumulating as yet unbilled debit until next bill etc.  If like other MVDD schemes - likely you always "owe" - whilst awaiting bill and then payment clearing) on average about 1 months electric (from 1st day of cycle 30 days + from day last 0 + so on ave c15days use + DD notice time - nominally 2 weeks at others + DD bacs clearance time - nominally 3 working days - upto 7 on a bank holiday).  By the time the money in the suppliers holding account - you effectively already "owe" for as yet unbilled another 17days+ of use and standing charges - from the last billed amount.

In more general scenarios - 

Ofgem have AFAIK new powers to impose - starting only partial - ring fencing on customer credit balances - so even if had credit - wouldn't lose everything.  

But from memory of the consultation the threshold starts off quite low - c20% - and then Ofgem can assess and up the percentage - for those who fail their new financial strength metrics. Rules that were due to come in on the day after a small supplier failed earlier this year.

And after that - it's up to the SoLR process - as above.