Tomato Energy goes bust - here's what you need to know

HillStreetBlues

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82085112#Comment_82085112

AKAIK there isn't a legal time-frame for an liquidation and not sure that back billing rules count after TE lost it's licence.

TroubledTarts

Fun times for their customers then, keep hold of all your data, start and end reads and put that money away in an interest attracting savings product and take it out after the 6 year mark.

Bendo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82085125#Comment_82085125

But if course to work around that, Ofgem like suppliers to include it in their terms and conditions, no idea if Tomato' did or not, but if they did then that will effectively mean nothing is recoverable.

masonic

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82085430#Comment_82085430

Looks like a statement about not trying to recover unbilled charges older than 12 months is there as clause 11.15, so that will stop any enforcement efforts.

Chrysalis

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82085125#Comment_82085125

I may have asked this before, so consumers get stronger rights after the license is gone? (normally suppliers without usage data can make up usage on estimated bills).

masonic

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82090127#Comment_82090127

Potentially, but like the limitation issue, if the customer has explicitly agreed in the contract to be billed using an industry estimate in the event of a failure to read a meter, then that term is unlikely to be ruled unfair. Getting a valid industry estimate may prove more difficult however.

As far as I'm aware all customers transferred to a new supplier, so a change of supply reading exists. I don't think the court would look favourably on a customer who tries to defend against a debt based on an estimate while simultaneously withholding the actual reading.

MWT

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82090138#Comment_82090138

Exactly, the contract with the supplier survives for the period up to the transfer to the SoLR, so all the usual rights to estimate still apply, and obviously the final reading will exist and that should be the basis for the final bill.

The fun comes with any tariff that was dependent on HH metering…