Tomato Energy

[johnb80]

Mine has been blocked too, although it did give me the oppertunity to look at Good Energy which do a really good EV tariff. They are waiting until the objection is lifted.

I can see BG dragging their heels, why wouldnt they with 30.26p kWh and £1.94 standing charge, it's absolute robbery in plain sight.

 

[Everest]

Ouch! But ... "better to have used Tomato and lost than never to have used Tomato at all" though, maybe

 

[Gadget Geek]

I have just sent this reply to the BG email.

"Hello,

Thank you for your email.

From the Ofgem website: What happens if your energy supplier goes bust

When your new supplier contacts you

Ask your new supplier to put you on their cheapest tariff, or shop around and switch if you want to. You won’t be charged exit fees. Your new supplier will explain how they'll manage your account balance, including any credit refunds.

I have shopped around and found the provider I prefer. However, my preferred provider informs me that you have blocked the switch.

I would be grateful if you could remove the block and allow my chosen provider to take over the supply.

Kinds regards,"

Let's see if they follow Ofgem's guidelines.

 

[johnb80]

Ouch! But ... "better to have used Tomato and lost than never to have used Tomato at all" though, maybe

100%

Putting the figures in a spreadsheet for the last year:

Tomato = £6119.09
Smartest = £6362.25
British Gas = £8798.66

So yes, Tomato saved us £2679.57 over British Rip You Off Gas. Smartest Energy comes in at a much more reasonable £243.16 more expensive but that I suppose is a more tolerable 3.97% increase over Tomato.

Did I mention I hate British Gas with a passion? Dreadful company.

 

[johnb80]

I have just sent this reply to the BG email.

"Hello,

Thank you for your email.

From the Ofgem website: What happens if your energy supplier goes bust

When your new supplier contacts you

Ask your new supplier to put you on their cheapest tariff, or shop around and switch if you want to. You won’t be charged exit fees. Your new supplier will explain how they'll manage your account balance, including any credit refunds.

I have shopped around and found the provider I prefer. However, my preferred provider informs me that you have blocked the switch.

I would be grateful if you could remove the block and allow my chosen provider to take over the supply.

Kinds regards,"

Let's see if they follow Ofgem's guidelines.

Please do keep us posted, I will do the same and see if they will release my business account to Smartest.

 

[Gadget Geek]

Please do keep us posted, I will do the same and see if they will release my business account to Smartest.

Will do.

I've also emailed the Ofgem information to Good Energy, explaining that I have asked British Gas to remove the objection so that they can continue.

 

[Anon70]

Regardless of who takes over from a failed suppler they have to wait until they are sent all relevant customer information, this will include things like the last meter reading, last bill and account balance.

Considering some of the posts in this thread it is highly likely that Tomato have left their customer accounts in a pretty poor state as regards the above. So it is quite likely that until British Gas know if your account is in credit or in debit they would block any switch. The company taking over the accounts also has to receive any balance of funds from the failed suppliers accounts and this is probably under the control of whoever is handling the administration for Tomato.

In my experience the energy industry is very poorly and over regulated and this is why you can find complaints about every supplier in the UK

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2025/11/tomato-energy-bust/

 

[johnb80]

In my experience the energy industry is very poorly and over regulated and this is why you can find complaints about every supplier in the UK

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2025/11/tomato-energy-bust/

The frustration from a customers point of view is that we've been dumped onto the worlds worst energy company in the UK. They have in the past pulled many stunts to the cost of their customers. My situation is my account is bang up to date, I have provided daily meter readings since Tomato announced they were ceasing trading and we pay our actual bills by direct debit (not a fixed monthly account) so BG have no excuse to block our transfer which they have done. The net result is our electricity cost on their wonderful 'deemed tariff' is almost double what it was with Tomato and what it will be with Smartest. BG of course are in no hurry to let us go, why would they? coining it in on both energy price and standing charge.
I don't really understand what the difficulty is, surely the process is the same if we move to Smartest Energy or British Gas, it makes no difference, why push everyone to BG?

 

[Anon70]

Last time I was SoLR my account was in the middle of a disputed read process and the new supplier had to sort that out for me before I could get anything like actual usage billed.

The administrator will be in control of sending account information to the new supplier (and there is a complaints procedure you can use if you are not happy with the way they are handling things, I think).

My previous supplier was Peoples Energy and they went into administration in September 2021. I got an email from the administrator yesterday, yes over 4 years later, asking if I wanted to put in a claim against Peoples energy for any losses. So that kind of gives you an idea of the speed they work at.

 

[johnb80]

Last time I was SoLR my account was in the middle of a disputed read process and the new supplier had to sort that out for me before I could get anything like actual usage billed.

The administrator will be in control of sending account information to the new supplier (and there is a complaints procedure you can use if you are not happy with the way they are handling things, I think).

My previous supplier was Peoples Energy and they went into administration in September 2021. I got an email from the administrator yesterday, yes over 4 years later, asking if I wanted to put in a claim against Peoples energy for any losses. So that kind of gives you an idea of the speed they work at.

I also had previous experience with Together Energy, I ended up taking legal action for losses I was incurring due to them blocking my transfer with no valid reason. I am continuing to read my meter and send them, the reading daily, they have no excuses !

 

[tsedge]

I must admit I am glad I never took the plunge early on with Tomato and then wasn't able to when they closed to new customers.

Suppliers collapsing and being rescued seems like a nightmare to go through. For me, the hassle wouldn't be worth the saving (though I fully understand it may be for others).

We seem to be stuck between massive dominant unresponsive incumbents and tiny but unreliable upstarts.

 

[Bam Bam]

I also had previous experience with Together Energy, I ended up taking legal action for losses I was incurring due to them blocking my transfer with no valid reason. I am continuing to read my meter and send them, the reading daily, they have no excuses !

I think their excuse would be that they have more customers than staff. The process of taking on a whole load of customers is a time-consuming one.

This bankruptcy thing happened to us a few times in the old days when anyone could set up an energy company, offer great rates, fail to be able to hedge against wholesale price rises and then go under when the wholesale price rose.

I seem to recall it took a bit of time for the new company to get the new customer details set up on their systems.

But yes in general - the whole point of taking over the customers from a bankrupt firm is either to grow your competitive business (Octopus) or to take on a captive customer base in the short term who they can rinse for a while (probably British Gas).

 

[johnb80]

I think their excuse would be that they have more customers than staff. The process of taking on a whole load of customers is a time-consuming one.

The switching process is automated if left alone, only because Ofgem and BG have got involved has it become a manual intervention required.

This bankruptcy thing happened to us a few times in the old days when anyone could set up an energy company, offer great rates, fail to be able to hedge against wholesale price rises and then go under when the wholesale price rose.

Yep seen it several times.

I seem to recall it took a bit of time for the new company to get the new customer details set up on their systems.

This really shouldn't be the case though, literally it should take a matter of a few minutes maximum to integrate the 15,000 customers into the BG system. Database dump from Tomato fed into BG database, emails triggered and offf we go, it really is that simple, well, that is if you want it to be.

But yes in general - the whole point of taking over the customers from a bankrupt firm is either to grow your competitive business (Octopus) or to take on a captive customer base in the short term who they can rinse for a while (probably British Gas).

Aye, youre right on that one for sure. I dont know of anyone who has had a truly positive thing to say about BG, I'm not sure why Ofgem allowed them to be involved in all honesty.

 

[salty]

Aye, youre right on that one for sure. I dont know of anyone who has had a truly positive thing to say about BG, I'm not sure why Ofgem allowed them to be involved in all honesty

Massive backhander. Sorry that's me being cynical.

 

[johnb80]

Massive backhander. Sorry that's me being cynical.

Probably very near to the truth.

 

[Bam Bam]

This really shouldn't be the case though, literally it should take a matter of a few minutes maximum to integrate the 15,000 customers into the BG system. Database dump from Tomato fed into BG database, emails triggered and offf we go, it really is that simple, well, that is if you want it to be.

I think you are imagining that BG are a tech savvy company like Octopus and not a lumbering dozy giant.

How did Octopus take on this industry so easily? Because the old players were analogue firms in a digital age. Octopus' founders were making IT systems for other industries before they realised that energy industry was just massively outdated and there was a big opportunity.

 

[johnb80]

I think you are imagining that BG are a tech savvy company like Octopus and not a lumbering dozy giant.

Not really, the customer aspect of it is really a simple database nothing more. BG definitely have the knowledge in-house to deal with it.

How did Octopus take on this industry so easily? Because the old players were analogue firms in a digital age. Octopus' founders were making IT systems for other industries before they realised that energy industry was just massively outdated and there was a big opportunity.

Octopus took on the industry with low prices and allegedly good customer care. The low prices is true and still holds good today, they are quite innovative with their agile tariffs and Intelligent ones.

 

[Kenp1]

This really shouldn't be the case though, literally it should take a matter of a few minutes maximum to integrate the 15,000 customers into the BG system. Database dump from Tomato fed into BG database, emails triggered and offf we go, it really is that simple, well, that is if you want it to be.

If things were really that simple I don't think I would have had a job in IT for 36 years. I would imagine the data in the Tomato system is a complete mess as they couldn't even bill customers correctly.

 

[tsedge]

Octopus took on the industry with low prices and allegedly good customer care. The low prices is true and still holds good today, they are quite innovative with their agile tariffs and Intelligent ones.

Agree with this, but what have they done lately that is innovative? Unless I have missed it, they are still peddling basically the same products they had 2-3 years ago.

The impression I get is that they were innovative when they were small but now they are huge that has largely ceased. I'd be happy if I am wrong.

 

[johnb80]

Agree with this, but what have they done lately that is innovative? Unless I have missed it, they are still peddling basically the same products they had 2-3 years ago.

Octopus Fan Club, Octopus COSY Heatpumps and Tariffs, Electroverse discounted EV charging, Octopus Mini get almost live data from your smart meter onto your PC / Octopus APP, Intelligent Octopus GO and more.

The impression I get is that they were innovative when they were small but now they are huge that has largely ceased. I'd be happy if I am wrong.

I suppose they have reached a plateau, a bit like smartphones there's only so much you can innovate in a particular field, then you just have to refine and improve rather than innovate.