I used to be a Utility Warehouse (UW!) gas and electric customer as well as taking phone line/broadband with them. I now just take phone line/broadband as their gas and electric (especially their electric) has, like all 'standard' rates, become uncompetitive compared to the plethora of online deals.

The UW phone line/broadband remains an unbeatable deal for us as we are Sainsburys shoppers (groceries and petrol/diesel). We simply use the 5% UW cashback card for these purchases instead of the usual bank debit card. Taking into account occasional spend at the various other UW cashback partners, our discount tends to be approx £20 per month, leaving a net bill to pay of approx. £3.50! That's for phone line rental, up to 24mb broadband with 40gg monthly download limit and unlimited weeken calls (including 0845/0870).

Fact is, any household who regularly shop at Sainsburys should at least look into taking the phone/broadband product from UW and weigh up if they would be paying less with UW than anywhere else. We certainly are. Gas and electric is another matter, though.

PS An unexpected advantage of the UW cashback card is that it makes Ryanair flights cheaper on account of it being exempt from the £5 per person each way booking fee! We haven't taken advantage of this yet but hope to when our finnaces much improve shortly.

PPS UW certainly IS on the switching sites for gas and electric but tends to be way down the best buys list so easily missed, lol!

redless:

As to why you rarely see them on comparison sites, it's because they won't pay a commission to those sites and will therefore not get a mention. The sites are there to make money and if you don't pay you don't come up.

Simply not true, redless. Utility Warehouse do appear in the results on our website.

Moneysupermarket.com enables customers to make an informed decision based on a whole of market comparison - and you can see for yourself how Utility Warehouse tariffs in your area compare to other energy providers by using our comparison tool. Moneysupermarket is fully accredited to the Consumer Focus Confidence Code to compare energy for domestic consumers.

You simply cannot proceed to purchase the Utility Warehouse tariff through our website - which is Utility Warehouse's choice and something we have discussed with them on several occasions.

I'd hate to see this thread go the same way as a previous forum thread about Utility Warehouse - which had to be closed due to persistent attempts by their 'distributors' to tout for business. You can still see that thread here:

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/community/forums/t/utility-warehouse-1586.aspx

Our customer reviews section also makes interesting reading:

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/c/utilities/suppliers/telecom-plus-the-utility-warehouse/reviews/17/0/1/1/0/

I hope that helps.

UW are certainly not new. They've been around for about 14 years now but started trading as Telecom Plus as it was purely a telecomms company in those days. Now they're heavily into gas, electricity, broadband, landline and mobile phones. I am a customer taking all those services and more on top. One of the greatest things they do is the cashback card which gives you 5% back from a large range or high street names. The money comes back the month following your spend and appears as a discount off your utility bill. It saves me an absolute fortune and is far better than any offer from credit card companies, though this card isn't a credit card. You have to load it with money before you spend it.

As to why you rarely see them on comparison sites, it's because they won't pay a commission to those sites and will therefore not get a mention. The sites are there to make money and if you don't pay you don't come up. That's why you see companies like Direct Line making a point of it in their TV ads.

Utility Warehouse are not that new. I was with them four years ago and they supplied me with gas, electricity, landline and broadband at competitive prices. They also offered mobile service too, so I am surprised thay are not compared against others.

Yes, often strangely from their affiliates who spam the company.. with a self referral opportunity in mind. !

They are a smaller, newer operation. They do get a mention on these boards from time to time though.

I am constantly hearing and seeing comparisons been made between e-on, British Gas and EDF, why isn't the Utility Warehouse ever mentioned?