Utility Warehouse

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Utility Warehouse
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryPublic utility, Multi-level marketing
Founded2002
HeadquartersColindale, North London
Key people
Charles Wigoder,
Andrew Lindsay
Products
Revenue£861 million (2020)[1]
£43.5 million (2021)
Number of employees
1,299 (2019)
ParentTelecom Plus plc
Websiteuw.co.uk Edit this at Wikidata

Utility Warehouse is a multiservice provider based in London, England that uses multi-level marketing to obtain customers through independent distributors.[2] It is a brand name of its parent company, Telecom Plus.[3][4] It currently handles over 650,000 customer accounts with the help of over 45,000 independent distributors. Utility Warehouse supplies customers with landline telephony, mobile telephony, broadband, gas, and electricity.[5] The Utility Warehouse brand is the primary engine of revenue generation for Telecom Plus.[4]

History[]

Telecom Plus, a FTSE 250 company, established Utility Warehouse in 2002[6] as a subsidiary and brand to encompass all of their residential energy, telephony and broadband offerings.[7] The Utility Warehouse headquarters is in Colindale, North London.[8]

In 2006, UW and Telecom Plus entered into an agreement with npower, under which npower would supply energy (gas and electricity) to UW customers.[4] UW sold its two subsidiaries (Electricity Plus and Gas Plus) to npower. 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.[2] [9]

In 2013, however, npower sold the two former Telecom Plus subsidiaries back to Utility Warehouse for £218 million.[10] As a result, Utility Warehouse became one of the largest independent energy suppliers in the UK.[4][10] The deal 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.[3][4][11]

The company supplies gas, electricity, broadband, mobile and landline telephony,[5] home insurance and a cashback card.[12][13] Their telephony and energy services are often bundled to reduce costs for customers.[10]

Multi-level marketing business model[]

Utility Warehouse employs a multi-level marketing model that utilizes independent business partners to obtain new customers. Partners introduce both residential and business customers.[7]

Utility Warehouse has no shops and does not advertise on television or in the national press. The company uses word-of-mouth as a primary means of promotion, and offers bonuses to UW Partners who introduce new customers. Partners are NOT paid to recruit others but can help people join to earn should they wish.[8]

Partners are paid a bonus from their own customers and their Partner network customers, making Telecom Plus a multi-level marketing company. There is a £50 registration fee to start your own business as a UW Partner (reduced to £10 if they become a customer as they register, or already are a customer). A 2017 Guardian investigation found that total commission paid to distributors in the previous financial year was £21.1 million, or less than 3% of revenue; if that amount was divided equally among the 41,717 distributors they would each receive £505 per year.[14] Utility Warehouse responded that the calculation was misleading: "there are many who for whatever reason earn considerably less than £500 per year, and there are those who work at their business extremely hard and earn considerably more than this".[14] In 2019, the average distributor earned £12 a week, prior to taking costs into consideration.[2]

References[]

  1. ^ "Annual Report 2021" (PDF). UW. 18 June 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c Jones, Rupert (7 December 2019). "Utility Warehouse: is its 'life-changing' scheme really ab fab?". TheGuardian.com.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b "Npower sells some subsidiaries to Telecom Plus for £218m". BBC. 20 November 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Gosden, Emily (20 November 2013). "Utility Warehouse buys 770,000 customer accounts from npower in £218m deal". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Macalister, Terry; Jennifer Rankin (20 November 2013). "RWE npower supply sale raises fears over UK withdrawal". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  6. ^ "Utility Warehouse Limited". Companies House. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Tieman, Ross (13 March 2009). "Company of the Year: Telecom Plus". Financial Times. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Stafford, Philip (29 March 2009). "Telecom Plus boosted by word-of-mouth support". Financial Times. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  9. ^ "Figure Out If It's a Pyramid Scheme by Asking the Right Questions". The Jerusalem Post. 12 November 2018.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b c Chazan, Guy (20 November 2013). "Telecom Plus deal to challenge big six UK energy suppliers". Financial Times. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  11. ^ Gosden, Emily (20 November 2013). "Energy challenger Telecom Plus leaps to Big Six's defence". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  12. ^ "UW Cashback Card Challenge Utility Warehouse Cash Back". www.cashbackcardchallenge.com. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  13. ^ "Annual Report 2019". Companies House. 31 March 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b Jones, Rupert (8 July 2017). "Get rich quick? Not with Utility Warehouse". the Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2018.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""