NPower sells 770,000 customers to UW

Pincher

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25014316


Lure them in with cheap deals, use them up, suck them dry, then sell them onto the next human trafficker. Are the Albanian !!!!! running NPower?

Nada666

I wonder if npower will be receiving a 2 to 6% distributor's commission from every bill from every transferred account.

MillicentBystander

It's a good attention grabbing headline but AFAIAA none of these 770,000 customers will have ever had any contact with npower directly anyway - they have always been Utility Warehouse customers, got their bills from UW (monthly btw), rung UW's CS if they had a problem etc. I would imagine if you asked them all who they were with for gas and electric at any stage in the last 6/7 years they would have unanimously answered Utility Warehouse.

PS Not a UW energy customer but have their phone/broadband and mobile for years with no problems and always had good value. Wouldn't touch npower with a bargepole however.

victor2

From the BBC report:

Npower boss Paul Massara said Britain was "well on its way to having a big seven rather than a big six".

He said: "In one move we have helped to create the biggest independent competitor in Britain's household energy supply market."

What he should have said: "We have ditched 770,000 of the customers we have shafted and made lots of money out of it. My bonus will be nice this year."

Almost feel sorry for the customers being pushed from nPower to Utility Warehouse. Shafted again!
Just my unbiased opinion of course.

Nada666

Millicent, I don't understand #3. Are you saying that these are just Utility Warehouse customers who are being changed - that Utility Warehouse are no longer doing an M&S and just selling rebadged energy.

MillicentBystander

Nada666 wrote: »

Millicent, I don't understand #3. Are you saying that these are just Utility Warehouse customers who are being changed - that Utility Warehouse are no longer doing an M&S and just selling rebadged energy.

I'm no expert but UW had 770,000 customer energy accounts prior to this so if I was a betting man...:D. As far as i can tell, UW tried to go it alone in 2004 when they launched their energy deals and didn't realise anything about the wholesale markets and its volatility, got into trouble so npower stepped in and bought the energy division off them with the proviso that UW bought their energy from them exclusively and they earned a commission from it. Telecom Plus (UW's parent comapny) have gotten so big over the last few years (now capitalised at £1.25 billion) they have decided to BUY IT BACK from npower. But these 770,000 customers have ALWAYS been 'with' UW like I said previously. There will be no change in billing, CS etc but they may actually get cheaper prices as a result of this deal. There wouldn't appear to be any downside for UW customers unless I am missing something. It's probably a good deal for both companies but I'm sure has been sparked due to the new Ofgem rules.

Nov 20 (Reuters) - Multi-utility provider Telecom Plus Plc said it signed a 218 million pound ($351 million) deal to buy back two units from Npower, nearly eight years after selling them to the British arm of Germany's RWE AG.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/11/20/telecomplus-acquisition-idUKL4N0J51V020131120