Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

1carminestocky

Good, reasoned post, penrhyn. :beer:


PS You have to very careful with EVERY company (UW included, of course!) but ESPECIALLY npower. Their tariff mentioned in your post is £114 per year less for you than UW. What most people don't realise (borne out by even T&C chaser Quentin missing it also) is that £105 of that saving doesn't actually materialise for 12 months. And if you were to switch away or God forbid miss a payment during that 12 months then effectively that npower tariff becomes just £9 per year cheaper than UWs. Naughty, really. Anyway, footie calls...

Gerrard_8_lfc

penrhyn wrote: »

My current deal,
British Gas Click 6 (Elec), Ebico (Gas), annual cost £537 QUOTE]


Just thought Id say if your with BG for elec Id change to websaver 3 Its cheaper for elec but click 6 is cheaper for gas :beer:

1carminestocky

Gerrard_8_lfc wrote: »

penrhyn wrote: »

My current deal,
British Gas Click 6 (Elec), Ebico (Gas), annual cost £537 QUOTE]


Just thought Id say if your with BG for elec Id change to websaver 3 Its cheaper for elec but click 6 is cheaper for gas :beer:

Only problem being there's a £30 exit fee on websaver3 whereas no such tie-in exists on Click 6. Granted, not a king's ransom ordinarily but on penrhyn's low consumption it probably represents 10% of total charge.

penrhyn

I had a quick look and on the face of it Websaver3 for electricity on its own is slightly more expensive than Click 6, I suspect its something to do with dual fuel discounts.
BG actually reduced my direct debit by 10% this month without me asking, unheard off!
I'm not planning to move to nPower as I have a thing about them, probably down to the swarm of salesmen that descend on our estate from time to time.
Why to they always call when I'm either eating, on the phone or in the shower?

Cardew

penrhyn wrote: »

In case anyone would like some figures here are mine.

East Midlands Region, Gas 9000Kwh, Electricity 2000Kwh.

Incumbent suppliers are British Gas and EON, annual cost £685
Utility Warehouse Standard User, annual cost £631

My current deal,
British Gas Click 6 (Elec), Ebico (Gas), annual cost £537

Cheapest deal
nPower Sign on line Std Billing, annual cost £517

In summary, for me a low user,UW is cheaper than the standard tariffs offered by the incumbent suppliers but can be beat by a significant margin if you are prepared to go for the cheapest online tarrifs.

(All prices from the Energyhelpline website)

As said earlier, a well reasoned post!!

However isn't it an indictment of UW prices that you have to get a combination of the most expensive electricity standard tariff and BG's standard gas tariff to find a 'deal' that is actually cheaper with UW.

It would appear that some UW distributers always manage to find such customers.

In reality someone who gets both gas and electricty from the same supplier will get their gas and electricity cheaper than UW.

No amount of obfuscation by the massed ranks of UW reps can hide the fact that UW have some of the very highest gas and electricity prices in UK.

Decado23

Cardew wrote: »

As said earlier, a well reasoned post!!

However isn't it an indictment of UW prices that you have to get a combination of the most expensive electricity standard tariff and BG's standard gas tariff to find a 'deal' that is actually cheaper with UW.

It would appear that some UW distributers always manage to find such customers.

In reality someone who gets both gas and electricty from the same supplier will get their gas and electricity cheaper than UW.

Interesting, But...

PS You have to very careful with EVERY company (UW included, of course!) but ESPECIALLY npower. Their tariff mentioned in your post is £114 per year less for you than UW. What most people don't realise (borne out by even T&C chaser Quentin missing it also) is that £105 of that saving doesn't actually materialise for 12 months. And if you were to switch away or God forbid miss a payment during that 12 months then effectively that npower tariff becomes just £9 per year cheaper than UWs. Naughty, really. Anyway, footie calls...

So potentially only £9 cheaper per year. Unless you have your phone line with UW in whcich case you also qualify for a free upgrade to their inclusive calls package (evening+weekends with 3 services taken, 24/7 with 4 services). I'd suggest this is worth somewhat more than £9 per year (the 3 phone providers I checked a while back were charging around £5-£7 per month for their 24/7 calls packages).
Of course you could also include the cashback card for anyone who shops in the appropriate stores (or would consider doing so) and is willing to accept the minor associated risks.
Of course you could also include the customer discount plan if you are willing to recomend UW to other people and earn additional ongoing discounts from your bill.
Of course you could include the potential savings for anybody who finds the special offers in the discount directory to be useful.

Or you may even feel that having all your utilities on one bill, from a company that has a pretty good customer service reputation and a call centre that answers most calls within 15 seconds would be worth £9 extra even if the other benefits don't apply.

No amount of obfuscation by the massed ranks of UW reps can hide the fact that UW have some of the very highest gas and electricity prices in UK.

No amount of obfuscation by the persistent detractors can hide the fact that under the right circumstances UW can offer an unbeatable package with the lowest overall cost.

btw, since signing up with UW My wife has received a call from a salesman representing a 'big6' supplier. When he learned we are with UW for energy, phone and internet the sales rep admitted he can't compete. I have heard several similar stories over the last few months.


UW Distributor.

1carminestocky

It would be interesting to discover just what %tage of punters remain on their incumbent supplier's tariffs even in these days of 'easy' switching. I would imagine it's depressingly high. That would appear to suggest that either the public are incredibly apathetic or their more knowleadgeble friends just cannot be arsed to help them for no recompense. I fear a combination of the 2 may be the truth.

PS I thought the TVG (I genuinely haven't read it as I take ALL guarantees/headline ads from ALL private companies with a HUGE pinch of salt) only covered the prices of the incumbent regional suppliers' non-DD tariffs into account. The figures penrhyn quotes suggest they beat their DD figures.

PS Cardew, I'm assuming the product/s of the company you work for is/are the absolute cheapest of its/their type on the market?

Decado23

1carminestocky wrote: »

It would be interesting to discover just what %tage of punters remain on their incumbent supplier's tariffs even in these days of 'easy' switching. I would imagine it's depressingly high. That would appear to suggest that either the public are incredibly apathetic or their more knowleadgeble friends just cannot be arsed to help them for no recompense. I fear a combination of the 2 may be the truth.

As far as I'm aware (and I could be wrong), the number of people who have never switched is indeed rather high. The %age of people who have switched, but only once is also rather high. The %age of people that switch regularly via the internet is pretty damn low.

Apathy is almost certainly one of the issues "I ought to switch, I'll get around to it one day..."

As is lack of trust "what's the point? They may look cheaper now but that won't last", "they're all the same anyway/just as bad as each other"

As is a lack of awareness, the survey I'm basing much of this on reckons only around 8% of people use sites like this one to inform their decisions(which, to be fair, is still quite a lot of people so kudos to Martin).

Many prefer dealing with a salesman face to face (dunno why, maybe they think they're a 'good judge of character' or just can't figure out computers...)

PS I thought the TVG (I genuinely haven't read it as I take ALL guarantees/headline ads from ALL private companies with a HUGE pinch of salt) only covered the prices of the incumbent regional suppliers' non-DD tariffs into account. The figures penrhyn quotes suggest they beat their DD figures.

Funnily enough, I have read the TVG
You are correct that it does not guarantee to be cheaper than competitors DD rates. It doesn't guarantee not to be cheaper either



UW Distributor

Decado23

Cardew wrote: »

I have lost count of how many of the utility companies have been a 'best buy' for me in the past couple of years - although many held that position for only a couple of weeks.

Just thought I'd put this here for anyone to refer to, should any reference to current pricing be used against UW

Sorry Cardew, can't resist.


UW Distributor

Quentin

Decado23 wrote: »

Funnily enough, I have read the TVG
You are correct that it does not guarantee to be cheaper than competitors DD rates. It doesn't guarantee not to be cheaper either

Some would say that as far as a "guarantee" goes, from what you tell us this seems about as worthless as they come.