Utility Warehouse

Utility Warehouse
Brand Name
Industry Public utility
Founded 2002
Headquarters London, England, UK
Products
Website Utility Warehouse

Utility Warehouse is a multi-utility provider based in London, England. It is the brand name for its parent company, Telecom Plus,[1] with Utility Warehouse operates as a separate brand.[2] 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.[3] The Utility Warehouse brand is the primary engine of revenue generation for Telecom Plus.[2]

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.[4]

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.[2] 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.[5] As a result, Utility Warehouse became one of the largest independent energy suppliers in the UK[2][5] with over 500,000 customers and 770,000 gas and electricity supply points to their name.[3] 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 esisting Big Six Energy Suppliers.[1][2][6]

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.[4] The Utility Warehouse headquarters is based in North London.[7]

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.[4][7] As of 2014, Utility Warehouse supplies gas, electricity, broadband, mobile and landline telephony.[3] Their telephony and energy services are often bundled to theoretically reduce costs for customers.[5] The company sets their own tariffs and provides customer service for each of their customers.[2]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Npower sells some subsidiaries to Telecom Plus for £218m". BBC. 20 November 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Gosden, Emily (20 November 2013). "Utility Warehouse buys 770,000 customer accounts from npower in £218m deal". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Macalister, Terry; Jennifer Rankin (20 November 2013). "RWE npower supply sale raises fears over UK withdrawal". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Tieman, Ross (13 March 2009). "Company of the Year: Telecom Plus". Financial Times. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Chazan, Guy (20 November 2013). "Telecom Plus deal to challenge big six UK energy suppliers". Financial Times. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  6. ↑ Gosden, Emily (20 November 2013). "Energy challenger Telecom Plus leaps to Big Six’s defence". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Stafford, Philip (29 March 2009). "Telecom Plus boosted by word-of-mouth support". Financial Times. Retrieved 7 October 2014.

External links