Utility Warehouse Review: is it a scam?

You won’t have seen Utility Warehouse on TV, but you may have heard of it on the grapevine. It relies on a partnership programme to recruit new subscribers, attracting unwanted comparisons to pyramid schemes. Is this fair? Read on to judge for yourself.

Utility Warehouse has become one of the largest suppliers outside the UK’s major suppliers, with over 600,000 homes and businesses subscribed to its services. We’re going to start by clearing up how the provider works and why it has attracted some negative attention.

How does Utility Warehouse work?

Rather than relying on television advertising encouraging potential customers to ring up or go to its website as usually do, Utility Warehouse relies on “partners” - people who sign up to distribute its product in exchange for a commission. It has been called the Avon or Tupperware of the utilities sector.

Utility Warehouse partners are paid a commission but are told that they can earn thousands of pounds a month in the scheme. Various sources (including the Guardian in 2017) have debunked this, claiming that the average distributor earns less than £10 a week! This means it would take you more than ten weeks just to get back the £100 it costs just to sign up.

You’ll find all details of the scheme in the Utility Warehouse Partner Portal:

Utility Warehouse Partner Portal

The Utility Warehouse Partner Portal is the resource that distributors use to “run their business and manage their team”. The key features of the portal are the following:

• News/alert feed: provides news, alerts, notifications, announcements and key articles.
• Navigation bar: gives clear directions to all the information you need.
• Filtering & search: find customers and team members, check orders, and create a list of customers not benefiting from all Utility Warehouse services.
• Online training: you can complete online training courses through the portal.
• Works on mobile: you can access the app on the go.

If you’re looking for information about commissions and bonuses that you can receive as a Utility Warehouse partner, there’s a document (called ‘The Opportunity’) available for download in the FAQ section of its website. It is vast and confusing, typical of multi-level marketing schemes, and hint at many promises that we don’t think it can keep.

You can log into the Utility Warehouse Partner Portal via its website or via the app, which is available in the App Store and the Google Play store.

Utility Warehouse Clubhouse

The Utility Warehouse Clubhouse is a rewards scheme that all customers are able to join in order to get cashback from their utilities bills. There are three steps once you’ve joined the Clubhouse:

• Search: there are 2,000 stores in the Clubhouse catalogue.
• Spend: make purchases and earn up to 10% cashback on them.
• Save: the cashback you get off your purchases will come out of your monthly bill.

A few of the stores you can get cashback from include Sainsbury’s, M&S, Expedia and Hotels.com, but in none of these will you get 10% cashback. In the majority of retailers, you’ll earn less than 5% on purchases, but if you spend a lot in these stores it will certainly be worth your while to sign up, though we don’t see it as a dealbreaker.

Who owns Utility Warehouse

Utility Warehouse is owned and operated by Telecom Plus plc, as it was originally founded as a telecommunications company in 1996. It branched out into the energy sector in 2013, buying customers from Npower as that provider went bust, and it also owned a stake in Opus Energy until it sold it in 2017.

Utility Warehouse reviews: is it any good?

Utility Warehouse reviews are generally positive, with around two-thirds of customers on the consumer review site Trustpilot giving it the best score of five stars. Around 80% of customers were happy on the whole with Utility Warehouse’s service.

Looking at recent Utility Warehouse reviews, it would seem that the thing they most appreciate about the provider is the level of customer service that it maintains. Most positive reviews are particularly happy with complaints resolution and the effectiveness of customer service agents in sorting out any issues that come up:

Easy to contact without too much delay and phone lines manned by people who are knowledgeable and helpful”

This bodes well, as we find that issues can occur whatever your provider and the mark of a good one is how quickly and effectively they can be resolved. Utility Warehouse is not without its problems, however, as a not-insignificant minority of negative reviewers suggest.

Negative Utility Warehouse reviews tend to highlight the cost of its service as the provider’s main drawback. One customer, who claims to have been a Utility Warehouse customer for fifteen years, had this to say:

Believed the hype that they would be cheaper than the top 6!! Feel ripped off, currently saving £400 per year! Exiting them was also difficult and customer service was poor.

It’s certainly true that there are cheaper deals to be found elsewhere on the market, so we would recommend seeing if you could save money with another provider. It’s also unsurprising that leaving is a complicated process - few providers make it easy. It’s important to acknowledge that these negative reviews are a minority, however, and that they generally are positive.

Utility Warehouse tariffs

Some reviews say that Utility Warehouse tariffs are too pricey - is this true? We’re going to take a look at its tariffs in as much detail as its website will allow. It’s difficult to compare it to other energy providers because Utility Warehouse tariffs for energy only come in bundles along with other products, such as broadband and mobile deals.

Here are your options if you want to sign up for energy with Utility Warehouse:

Value

Utility Warehouse’s Value tariff claims to be able to save you at least 0.5% compared to the Big Six, with a promise that it will be kept below the level of the price cap as long as you remain a member. This is hardly promising the world, as there are many providers offering rates far below that of the price cap - cheaper tariffs are definitely available!

Utility Warehouse tariffs offer no specifics on the website as to the unit rate you’ll be charged for electricity and gas - only choosing to state the estimated savings you could make. This is a little fishy to us, and a little more transparency would be nice here.

There is also no fixed-price guarantee for this deal, which is always a concern when entering into a new contract. There are some other benefits to the Value tariff, however:

• Free Gourmet Society card
• Free mobile phone protection scheme
• Calls savings

Gold Energy

If you sign up to Utility Warehouse’s Gold Energy tariff, with Home Phone and Broadband thrown in, it says you could save up to £583 a year on energy. Again, the provider offers little in terms of specifics on pricing, so we’re just expected to take their word for it that it’s that much cheaper than the Big Six.

The additional features that Gold Energy are the following:

• Calls savings
• Free smart meter
• Free LED light bulb service included

On the whole, there doesn’t seem to be much benefit to signing up to Gold Energy over the next deal, which is Double Gold Energy. You will need to add Mobile to your list of Utility Warehouse services, but if you do you could save much more and be in line for many more benefits.

Double Gold Energy

Double Gold Energy is the only one of the Utility Warehouse’s tariffs to offer 100% green energy and a fixed-price guarantee. Utility Warehouse claims that it will save you up to £995 a year over the biggest providers, but you’ll have to also sign up for Mobile, Home Phone and Broadband.

Double Gold Energy also comes with further benefits, including:

• 100% renewable electricity
• Free Gourmet Society card
• Free mobile phone protection scheme
• 'Double the Difference' price promise
• Call savings
• Energy prices fixed until 30 June 2021
• Up to £200 to help you switch
• Free smart meter
• Free LED light bulb service included

Free LED light bulb service

When you sign up to any Utility Warehouse tariffs except the Value tariff, you’ll receive free energy-saving LED light bulbs which it says are worth £300 - £500. The bulbs are said to be able to save you up to 15% on your electricity bill, and Utility Warehouse will send someone out to fit them for you for free. You’ll also receive free replacements for life!

This service certainly adds considerable value to the Double Gold Tariff and to Utility Warehouse’s green credentials on the whole. If you’re on the fence about subscribing, we would understand if it were to push you over.

Make sure you get your smart meter installedIn order to be eligible for Utility Warehouse’s free LED light bulb service, you’ll need to have one of its smart meters installed. If you don’t, it’s no light bulbs for you, unfortunately!

Utility Warehouse login

Are you an existing customer looking for Utility Warehouse login details? You can access your account online or via the Clubhouse app. Subscribers can manage several different services from their package in one place with their Utility Warehouse login. Here’s what you can do with it:

• Energy: submit meter readings, see past readings, and keep all your information in one place.
• Mobile: top-up your credit on the go, check your data usage.
• Account: view recent activity, view your latest bill, see past bills.
• Cashback: check your balance, add money to your card.

If you’ve been drawn to Utility Warehouse because it lets you bundle all your utilities into one deal, you’ll be equally drawn to the Clubhouse app. It brings everything from your mobile deal to your energy meter readings together and lets you manage them simply in one place on your phone.

How effectively the app lets you do this, however, is another matter. Reviews for the app in both the App Store and in the Google Play store are below three stars, leaving questions as to how easy it is to manage your Utility Warehouse services after all.

How to login

You can access your Utility Warehouse login via the app, which is available in the App Store or in the Google Play Store, or via the Utility Warehouse website. You simply click on the My Account button in the top right-hand corner of the homepage, where you’ll be redirected to the login page.

To access your account, you’ll need either your membership number, username, or the email you signed up with, and the password you created when you signed up. If you’ve forgotten your password, just click the link that says ‘Forgotten your password?’ and you can have a link sent to your email address to reset it.

Warm home discount

Utility Warehouse does offer the Warm Home Discount to its customers, whether they qualify through the Core Group or the Broader Group. You can apply for the Utility Warehouse Warm Home Discount via the Clubhouse - you’ll need your membership number and your billing postcode to hand to start your application, so make sure you have them ready.

The discount this year is £140 and will have been paid by the end of March 2021. Members of the Core Group will have been notified that they qualify automatically and wouldn’t have needed to apply, but to be considered for the Broader Group you did have to apply. The criteria is wide, and if you’re not sure whether or not you qualify you can call Utility Warehouse to inquire about it.

How do I get in touch with Utility Warehouse?

If you’re looking for a Utility Warehouse contact number, you’ve come to the right place. Here it is:

Confusingly, though the same Utility Warehouse contact number is given for inquiries to several different departments, each has its own opening hours which all differ. Here they are:

If you don’t want to speak with someone over the phone, you can fill out a form and send a query online, leaving your email address or telephone number for an agent to then get back to you. This is available on the Contact section of the Utility Warehouse website.