[Excellent Electronics]

Two unrelated questions...

1. Does anyone know anything about their "Tomatopia" scheme?

By signing up, your household receives solar panels and batteries, with no upfront costs, fantastic electricity supply rates and your bills secured for 5 years, from only £99.99 p/m

All seems a bit too good to be true? I presume the £99.99/m will only be for the smallest solar and batteries installation, and the costs of the electricity supply is not included in that?

Edit: I put a neighbour's address in the quote section to get around the SMETS1 problem, and it clarifies that electricity usage is included. No info on what quantity of electricity is included.

2. For their energy, what do you do if you have an SMETS1 meter?

 

[scratchyman]

Two unrelated questions...

1. Does anyone know anything about their "Tomatopia" scheme?

By signing up, your household receives solar panels and batteries, with no upfront costs, fantastic electricity supply rates and your bills secured for 5 years, from only £99.99 p/m

All seems a bit too good to be true? I presume the £99.99/m will only be for the smallest solar and batteries installation, and the costs of the electricity supply is not included in that?

Edit: I put a neighbour's address in the quote section to get around the SMETS1 problem, and it clarifies that electricity usage is included. No info on what quantity of electricity is included.

2. For their energy, what do you do if you have an SMETS1 meter?

I looked at this. It appeared to me that they can’t read SMETS1 meters and if the tariff needs half hourly readings, you are stuffed. Unless anyone else knows differently. The other thing for me was “bills secured for 5 years”. What if they go bust? What happens then?
They also quote “FROM £99.99 p/m”. That could mean anything.

 

[Excellent Electronics]

I looked at this. It appeared to me that they can’t read SMETS1 meters and if the tariff needs half hourly readings, you are stuffed. Unless anyone else knows differently. The other thing for me was “bills secured for 5 years”. What if they go bust? What happens then?
They also quote “FROM £99.99 p/m”. That could mean anything.

Octopus claim that their own offering is "from £4100" but when you enter your details, the cheapest is £4500 if you select no battery and 2 panels. I noticed on the Tomato quote page (with SMETS2 neighbour's address) the headline rate is now £139.99/month, which is £8,400 over 5 years. With Octopus, this will get you an installation with 3 panels and a battery. My guess is the "from" rate only applies if you pick the minimum number of solar panels and (like Octopus) it goes up quite a lot once you add a sensible quantity of panels.

Incidentally, why does adding more panels (for Octopus) make such a difference to price? People keep saying that panels are dirt cheap and that all the costs come from extortionate tradesmen/scaffolders.

What happens when they go bust is an important question. There's quote a good chance of that happening when something's almost too good to be true. Previous events have shown us that what happens is the people who went with the risky little supplier don't lose out and instead the costs are lumped onto everyone via standing charges, so from a selfish point of view it does make sense to chase deals like this. The biggest risk would presumably be that the finance could get cancelled and you might have to stump up the remaining several £k on the finance in one go.

 

[Electrickery]

Octopus claim that their own offering is "from £4100" but when you enter your details, the cheapest is £4500 if you select no battery and 2 panels. I noticed on the Tomato quote page (with SMETS2 neighbour's address) the headline rate is now £139.99/month, which is £8,400 over 5 years. With Octopus, this will get you an installation with 3 panels and a battery. My guess is the "from" rate only applies if you pick the minimum number of solar panels and (like Octopus) it goes up quite a lot once you add a sensible quantity of panels.

Incidentally, why does adding more panels (for Octopus) make such a difference to price? People keep saying that panels are dirt cheap and that all the costs come from extortionate tradesmen/scaffolders.

What happens when they go bust is an important question. There's quote a good chance of that happening when something's almost too good to be true. Previous events have shown us that what happens is the people who went with the risky little supplier don't lose out and instead the costs are lumped onto everyone via standing charges, so from a selfish point of view it does make sense to chase deals like this. The biggest risk would presumably be that the finance could get cancelled and you might have to stump up the remaining several £k on the finance in one go.

The monthly cost doesn't include your electric use though presumably?
I would imagine the finance is structured via an intermediary or something so you'd still be effectively paying off a loan yet having to buy your electric from elsewhere on top. You'd owe them money so even if they did go bust that debt would still be payable to whoever took on the book of debt. It's not like if your bank goes bust you don't need to pay back your mortgage.

 

[donald]

Two unrelated questions...

1. Does anyone know anything about their "Tomatopia" scheme?

By signing up, your household receives solar panels and batteries, with no upfront costs, fantastic electricity supply rates and your bills secured for 5 years, from only £99.99 p/m

All seems a bit too good to be true? I presume the £99.99/m will only be for the smallest solar and batteries installation, and the costs of the electricity supply is not included in that?

Edit: I put a neighbour's address in the quote section to get around the SMETS1 problem, and it clarifies that electricity usage is included. No info on what quantity of electricity is included.

2. For their energy, what do you do if you have an SMETS1 meter?

I just looked that up, could not get a quote as I am already with them.

What does this cover? How much battery/panel might you get?

 

[Excellent Electronics]

The monthly cost doesn't include your electric use though presumably?
I would imagine the finance is structured via an intermediary or something so you'd still be effectively paying off a loan yet having to buy your electric from elsewhere on top. You'd owe them money so even if they did go bust that debt would still be payable to whoever took on the book of debt. It's not like if your bank goes bust you don't need to pay back your mortgage.

The quote page claims that electric use is included. It's possible that the £139.99/month is as estimate of what it would be with average electricity usage included and £99.99 is without?

Re going bust, I never thought there's a chance you'd get your solar for free if they went bust. It was more about the risk of whether you'd pay any more on top if they went bust or not.

Solar is something I'd like to have but despite "low battery prices" and "low solar prices", a proper installation including batteries still costs over £10k and the payback period is just way too long for me.

 

[Excellent Electronics]

I just looked that up, could not get a quote as I am already with them.

What does this cover? How much battery/panel might you get?

It doesn't say, it just says that it's "From £99/month" and they'll contact you with the details, so you'll have to ask.

 

[Cheshirecat]

What happens when they go bust is an important question.

Rest assured your credit agreement would be with a 3rd party…so when Tomato goes bust, you will still owe the money, but any warranties with have turned to purée

 

[donald]

Rest assured .....

Thank you, I am so relieved. The stress!! ...

 

[blueacid]

https://www.tomato.energy/legal-policies/tomatopia-terms-and-conditions

Here are the ts and cs; there are only certain postcodes supported right now:

Our community energy programme is currently active for households in the following locations: Basingstoke, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Telford, Reading, Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, Dudley, Stoke-on-Trent For the avoidance of doubt, the qualifying postcodes in each of the above locations begin with:
Basingstoke: RG21, RG22, RG23, RG24
Wolverhampton: WV
Walsall: WS
Telford: TF
Reading: RG
Nottingham: NG
Derby: DE
Leicester: LE
Dudley: DY
Stoke-on-Trent: ST

They go on to explain what happens if you move out, but don't explain what kind of kit they intend on installing, or what the other terms and conditions which apply... are

What happens if you sell your home?
In the event of you selling your home, the agreement with Tomato Energy will be cancelled and a fee will be due to Tomato Energy for the remainder of the lease and any equipment to be removed. The fee for the remainder of the lease will be £960 p.a. Pro rate for every year of the outstanding lease term. The fee for removing any equipment will differ depending on the complexities involved in removal, e.g. scaffolding required. This fee is payable by the seller, you.

If the new owner of your home would like to keep the equipment and maintain the energy contract with Tomato Energy, please contact us so we can arrange for a new and bespoke agreement.

What happens at the end of the 5 years?
At the end of the 5 year lease, any installed equipment will become your property. You must however contact us and we will transfer the title for free.

You will automatically then move onto a Tomato Energy Standard Variable Rate, but you are free to move onto any other tariff you’d like from Tomato Energy or another supplier of your choosing.



This offer is subject to supply and Tomato Energy reserves the right to withdraw the offer at any stage. It is the responsibility of the homeowner to ensure that the correct insurance is in place to cover solar panels and battery storage for the entire property lease term.

Subject to eligibility criteria in place from time to time and applicable documents being entered into to our satisfaction. HM Land Registry rules apply. Mortgage lenders may require additional criteria to be satisfied. Any legal and administrative costs incurred during the transaction are not within our control. Terms and Conditions apply

 

[Blanik]

I looked at this. It appeared to me that they can’t read SMETS1 meters and if the tariff needs half hourly readings, you are stuffed. Unless anyone else knows differently. The other thing for me was “bills secured for 5 years”. What if they go bust? What happens then?
They also quote “FROM £99.99 p/m”. That could mean anything.

If the SMETS1 meter has been migrated onto the DCC then AFAIK it should be able to report half hour readings to any supplier.

 

[scratchyman]

If the SMETS1 meter has been migrated onto the DCC then AFAIK it should be able to report half hour readings to any supplier.

Yes it does and Octopus can read it but Tomato can’t.

 

[Electrickery]

So apparently Tomato have admitted the error with the half hour slots being 30 minutes out. And are going to correct it and adjust bills

 

[blueacid]

So apparently Tomato have admitted the error with the half hour slots being 30 minutes out. And are going to correct it and adjust bills

I'll bet that's down to a "slot start" and "slot end" time being mixed up somewhere in their billing code. Easy mistake to make, but.. how did that mistake get all the way through their testing?

 

[donald]

So apparently Tomato have admitted the error with the half hour slots being 30 minutes out. And are going to correct it and adjust bills

Hopefully they might fix my tariff to.

I'm not going to ask about their lack of applying the 'intensity' discount. Sounds like they might explode.

 

[Electrickery]

I'll bet that's down to a "slot start" and "slot end" time being mixed up somewhere in their billing code. Easy mistake to make, but.. how did that mistake get all the way through their testing?

Well the Mywatts data refers to the settlement time, which I think in industry parlance is "end time" isn't it?
So as it's just a time, assume whoever designed the software has taken that as the start time. So 00:00 is actually 23:30-00:00, but the billing software sees the 00:00 and applies the 00:00 rate of eg 5p.
Yes an easy fix, but obviously requires correction/backdating which is a bit of a mess. We'll have to see how robust their system is with corrections. Octopus's much vaunted Kraken system seemed to struggle with backdating / recalculating bills so I don't have a lot of faith in this one!
Incidentally I got them (on the 3rd try) to change my tariff to the 6hour "EV" one. They explained that they could only do that from start of month (which is fine).
On checking the Mywatts data that has actually backdated it so it's good from that perspective.

 

[Electrickery]

Hopefully they might fix my tariff to.

I'm not going to ask about their lack of applying the 'intensity' discount. Sounds like they might explode.

What is the intensity discount?

 

[Darren.clayton5]

I switched across from Octopus Agile last Saturday. It has gone reasonably well so far.

On my first car charge on Sunday morning I did 01:00-06:00 but I suffered from the 30 minute offset others have noticed leaving me about 60p down. I’ve done another charge since and the times of that one were ok so hopefully that glitch has been fixed.

The MyWatts app is all over the place with readings with big gaps being filled in days later.

They actually called me today to see how things were going (and to ask me to leave a glowing review on Trustpilot). They said my billing will take place between the fifth and eighth of each month, but I missed the cutoff for December so I should expect my first bill early in the new year.

Finally, although Tomato have my meter readings starting at 00:00 on Saturday, Octopus stopped recording them from 23:59 on Thursday, so there is a day missing at the moment. I’ve had my Octopus bill today but it was only for the gas. Maybe they’ll find the missing day when they calculate my last electricity bill.

I’m not sure how long Tomato will last at these rates. It certainly does have a whiff of too good to be true about it, but we’ll see. For now it’s nice to be off Agile and not having to worry about 48 difference prices for electricity each day or of the daily 16:00 - 19:00 crazy rates.

 

[Electrickery]

I switched across from Octopus Agile last Saturday. It has gone reasonably well so far.

On my first car charge on Sunday morning I did 01:00-06:00 but I suffered from the 30 minute offset others have noticed leaving me about 60p down. I’ve done another charge since and the times of that one were ok so hopefully that glitch has been fixed.

The MyWatts app is all over the place with readings with big gaps being filled in days later.

They actually called me today to see how things were going (and to ask me to leave a glowing review on Trustpilot). They said my billing will take place between the fifth and eighth of each month, but I missed the cutoff for December so I should expect my first bill early in the new year.

Finally, although Tomato have my meter readings starting at 00:00 on Saturday, Octopus stopped recording them from 23:59 on Thursday, so there is a day missing at the moment. I’ve had my Octopus bill today but it was only for the gas. Maybe they’ll find the missing day when they calculate my last electricity bill.

I’m not sure how long Tomato will last at these rates. It certainly does have a whiff of too good to be true about it, but we’ll see. For now it’s nice to be off Agile and not having to worry about 48 difference prices for electricity each day or of the daily 16:00 - 19:00 crazy rates.

Are you sure the half hour glitch is fixed? Once it is fixed it should recalculate everything I would assume.
When I changed tariff it recalculated every slot since the start of my billing period.
But the half hour glitch is still on mine, for every date since I joined.

 

[Darren.clayton5]

Are you sure the half hour glitch is fixed? Once it is fixed it should recalculate everything I would assume.
When I changed tariff it recalculated every slot since the start of my billing period.
But the half hour glitch is still on mine, for every date since I joined.

I was doubting myself so I set my car to charge again then set an alarm for a minute to 1am so I could watch it and make sure it was actually charging at that time. It was and the next day when the readings showed up on the MyWatts page, they were correct. The original overcharge is still there but I’ve not had a bill yet so maybe they will sort it out before then.