Tomato Energy

[APMG]

I have ESP32 driven CT's, not too precise but good enough for general monitoring and it's realtime as opposed to the delayed response via Octopus Mini. There are quite a few different ways on Youtube dependent on the meter you have.



Dunno what to say there. Is that logging in to Mywatts or Tomato directly?

Mywatts they send you a login invitation IIRC.

Spoke with a lady earlier in week. They sent to Devs and seems as I used an Alias address it broke their API call. They've fixed the truncation issue now so link is working and logged in

Don't switch until 29th same day my chargers installed so can test it out in night time.

Anyone else get their bills yet?

 

[johnb80]

Well done that man, still no bill for me.

J

 

[Gadget Geek]

Nor me. I wonder if we'll get a double whammy next month?

 

[emmrecs]

No bill here either. And still no data at all showing for October. ?

 

[Gadget Geek]

All my data for the last week as suddenly appeared this morning. I think their software is still in beta.

 

[Brianlescargot]

Read the 1 star reviews on Trustpilot. Ignore the good reviews almost all have been given just aafter they joined.

 

[johnb80]

Read the 1 star reviews on Trustpilot. Ignore the good reviews almost all have been given just aafter they joined.

I have read them and it makes no difference for me, 43p Standing Charge, 5p off peak and 23p peak is all I need to know.; If theyre not billing me I have no issues with that.

J

 

[APMG]

Read the 1 star reviews on Trustpilot. Ignore the good reviews almost all have been given just aafter they joined.

Seems majority of energy firms have a large number of 1's, even Octopus and Ofcom investigations looking into it.

The industry isn't great specially for those who're earning less I am sure dealing with expensive, unhelpful power companies isn't great for those.

I had some hiccups with Tomato on registration. I did email but got nothing but supposedly the Tomato Energy team can't see [email protected] only [email protected] so something to consider if you do get issues.

I called up, spoke to a lady within 4 minutes and she relayed my issue to the tech team. I then tried a day later and the password reset worked.

In terms of the MyWatts Platform, it does seem fairly immature but looking at their linkedin seems the group has a lot of software devs so I am sure they're trying to scale it rapidly. The cost savings with standing charge, 6 hours at 5p and 4 hours of 13.37p I think will save me a lot once the charger is in. Even on Octopus Tracker (December 2023) tariff, never tried Agile as I can't really shift loads!

Billing as John mentioned, I am not too bothered if its delayed but just need to not spend that money what you'd usually use for fuel!

 

[johnb80]

Trust Pilot Ratings:
British Gas 4.2
EDF 4.6
Octopus 4.8
Tomato 4.3

So theyre in there with the mix.

 

[Brianlescargot]

Trust Pilot Ratings:
British Gas 4.2
EDF 4.6
Octopus 4.8
Tomato 4.3

So theyre in there with the mix.

But they are a new company so those ratings are exaggerated by customers just joining posting a review. It’s like rating an insurance company never having made a claim. I’m certainly wary enough not to join them at this moment especially given they quoted me about 25% more than what I pay Octopus on the Agile tariff.

 

[Brianlescargot]

Seems majority of energy firms have a large number of 1's, even Octopus and Ofcom investigations looking into it.

The industry isn't great specially for those who're earning less I am sure dealing with expensive, unhelpful power companies isn't great for those.

I had some hiccups with Tomato on registration. I did email but got nothing but supposedly the Tomato Energy team can't see [email protected] only [email protected] so something to consider if you do get issues.

I called up, spoke to a lady within 4 minutes and she relayed my issue to the tech team. I then tried a day later and the password reset worked.

In terms of the MyWatts Platform, it does seem fairly immature but looking at their linkedin seems the group has a lot of software devs so I am sure they're trying to scale it rapidly. The cost savings with standing charge, 6 hours at 5p and 4 hours of 13.37p I think will save me a lot once the charger is in. Even on Octopus Tracker (December 2023) tariff, never tried Agile as I can't really shift loads!

Billing as John mentioned, I am not too bothered if its delayed but just need to not spend that money what you'd usually use for fuel!

They had me curious enough to go into their website but what they quoted me was more than what I’m currently paying Octopus. My average unit rate for the year so far works out at 10.5 pence per kWh. I left Agile once before when it got too expensive during the energy price hikes. I have suffered poor customer service in the past with British Gas who tried to charge me for a made up meter read so I’m very wary of energy companies that may not provide the promised service. Time will tell how they perform.

 

[mystreet]

I go by what service I get. Had to call only a couple of times, great CS always.

Also, as only 1 of whom seem to be paying for the electricity that I use, very happy with the £30 reduction in our monthly usage, which was a normal month.

 

[Tig170]

Well done that man, still no bill for me.

J

Have you checked your IHD (I also have bright) as that will give you a good indicitation as to how its working (is it using 2 gauges on the smart meter or 1 gauge - EDF use 2, Octopus & EoN use 1 etc.. )

 

[johnb80]

Have you checked your IHD (I also have bright) as that will give you a good indicitation as to how its working (is it using 2 gauges on the smart meter or 1 gauge - EDF use 2, Octopus & EoN use 1 etc.. )

I log all of mine in Home Assistant.

 

[andyMG4]

As per last post, we switched to Tomato on 18 Sept. MyWatts came alive 2 days ago

I am not sure if the accuracy / format of the data is clearly stated above - it is not expressed easily. I have been doing some cross-checking with Hugo, the Smart Meter and e.g. Victron / Car Charger timers and think it all agrees provided one 'understands':

1. kWh are measured / broadcast in half hour chunks e.g. 0100GMT to 0130GMT. This shows up on MyWatts graphs / download as a single time point at the end of the period e.g. for 0100GMT to 0130GMT MyWatts shows it as 0130GMT.
2. Clearly at the moment we are on BST, so the 0100GMT-0130GMT usage is 0200BST-0230BST i.e. the 0130 MyWatts values are for usage between 0200-0230 on your clock / timer.
3. The downloaded data gives 49 half hour blocks i.e. there is a one block overlap between adjacent days.

I'm with @johnb80 that I don't really care that Tomato are slow / overloaded / get bad reviews. The chances that they actually affect our electricity supply is minimal, apart from billing, which can be dealt with via the regulator. eOn were as useless at IT as Tomato are, maybe worse - albeit the billing seemed accurate.

We do not export, since the solar / battery setup is all DIY, but I think over 95% of the units we use is at 5p (inc VAT), and 20% less standing charge than Ofcom Cap. Hard to overlook that v a few grumpy Trustpilot reports

 

[gus]

Just being trying to get my head around the cheap times, so far I see it as follows, given that times are GMT.

 

[APMG]

Just being trying to get my head around the cheap times, so far I see it as follows, given that times are GMT.
View attachment 31489

Interesting. I guess when clocks change this month it will be correct lol

 

[andyMG4]

@gus - my view:
1. For the 0000-0600 5p period, that is 2300GMT - 0500GMT, and will be 12 30 min blocks (lines on your spreadsheet)
2. You have 10 green lines at the top but need 12. Change the first red line to green - since MyWatts' 0500GMT is for the end of the block.
3. You need to add a first green line from the previous days report (period ending 2330GMT = 0000BST-0030BST).
4. Remove the bottom 2 (green) lines - they are for the next day.
5. Change bottom green line to orange.
6. Work that logic through the day....

I am assuming your 5p (green) periods are 0000-0600BST and 2200-0000BST (I think some areas are different times?

 

[andyMG4]

To add to above, whilst the kWh consumption on MyWatts seems accurate, the "cost" values seem to apply incorrect times e.g. might be using GMT. I'll not be concerned over what MyWatts shows, but keenly analyse the bill (when... )

 

[emmrecs]

I'll not be concerned over what MyWatts shows, but keenly analyse the bill (when... )

Ditto here!

Had an email from Tomato CS this morning (twice, actually), thanking me for sending in my meter reading (sent October 1st, as requested in an earlier email from them) and I replied to ask about a bill, since it is now fast approaching two months since transferring to them. Received a reply that the figures would be passed to the billing team!