Type Brand Name Founded 2002 Parent Telecom Plus PLC | Industry Public utility Headquarters London, England, UK | |
Products Landline telephony
Mobile telephony
Broadband
Gas
Electricity | ||
Utility Warehouse is a multi-utility provider based in London, England. It is the brand name for its parent company, Telecom Plus, with Utility Warehouse operating as a separate brand. It currently handles over 500,000 customer accounts with the help of over 40,000 independent distributors. Utility Warehouse supplies customers with landline telephony, mobile telephony, broadband, gas, and electricity. The Utility Warehouse brand is the primary engine of revenue generation for Telecom Plus.
Contents
History
The Utility Warehouse brand has been linked to Telecom Plus since 2002 when Telecom Plus launched it as a single brand to encompass all of the company's residential services. Since then, Utility Warehouse has been the operating brand for all of Telecom Plus's residential energy, telephony and broadband offerings.
In 2006, Utility Warehouse and Telecom Plus entered into an agreement with npower that tasked npower with supplying energy (gas and electricity) to Utility Warehouse customers. Utility Warehouse essentially sold two subsidiaries (Electricity Plus and Gas Plus) to npower. In 2013, however, npower sold the two former Telecom Plus subsidiaries back to Utility Warehouse for £218 million. As a result, Utility Warehouse became one of the largest independent energy suppliers in the UK with over 500,000 customers and 770,000 gas and electricity supply points to their name. The deal also sparked commentary about the possibility of npower's parent company RWE leaving the UK, or the emergence of a "Big Seven" in place of the existing Big Six Energy Suppliers.
Operation
Utility Warehouse operates as part of the Telecom Plus holding company. It employs a multi-level marketing model that utilizes independent distributors to obtain new customers. Distributors introduce both residential and business customers. The Utility Warehouse headquarters is based in North London.
The Institute of Customer Service listed the Utility Warehouse listed as the companies with the 2nd best customer service in the UK in their 2016 survey.
Because Utility Warehouse does not operate shops or engage in advertising, they rely entirely on word-of-mouth referrals from their independent distributors and existing customers. As of 2014, Utility Warehouse supplies gas, electricity, broadband, mobile and landline telephony. Their telephony and energy services are often bundled to theoretically reduce costs for customers. The company sets their own tariffs and provides customer service for each of their customers.
A 2009 article by The Guardian reported that Telecom Plus's rates were generally average, and as much as 20% higher than the best deals.
In 2009, consumer group Which? ranked Telecom Plus as having the highest customer satisfaction for home telephone service. According to a 2014 survey by USwitch, Utility Warehouse had the second highest customer satisfaction behind Good Energy., since which time they have picked up numerous other independent awards.
Marketing
Utility Warehouse has no shops and does not advertise on television or in the national press. The company has focused on word-of-mouth as a primary means of promotion, and offers bonuses to distributors who recruit new customers and distributors. Distributors gain a commission from both their own customers, and their distributor's customers, making Telecom Plus a multi-level marketing company. There is a £100 joining cost to become a distributor.