The best way to pay for energy
28 Mar 2024
Utility Warehouse (UW) currently has over 950,000 customers across the services it sells, all of which are bundled into one bill.
Its model is unique but contentious. Customers are encouraged to bundle together multiple utilities - electricity, gas, broadband, mobile and home and boiler insurance - to access its best deals.
UW also offers customers a cashback card, which earns them cashback of up to 10% at a range of retailers. The cashback you earn is taken off your monthly bill.
This year it achieved the highest score in our behind-the-scenes assessment. But its customers' feedback means it narrowly missed out on becoming a Which? Recommended Provider.
Use our free tool to compare energy prices and check whether you could save money with a fixed deal.
We combine the results of our customer survey with an in-depth assessment of companies’ behind-the-scenes practices and policies to give you an overall view.
Take a look at our table below to see our score breakdown for Utility Warehouse:
Total score | 75% |
Customer survey score | 69% |
Which? assessment score | 80% |
Here's how Utility Warehouse's customer and policy assessments break down:
Customer survey score | 69% |
Customer service overall | |
Accessibility (being able to engage with your firm how you want or need to) | |
Quality of communications about energy costs | |
Accuracy of payments | |
Clarity of statements | |
Value for money | |
Which? assessment score | 80% |
Based on a survey of 204 Utility Warehouse customers carried out in October 2023, and a Which? energy company request for information and desk research in October 2023.
Find out how Utility Warehouse compares with other energy companies – click to see our full results of the best and worst energy companies.
Utility Warehouse ranks joint-fourth out of 16 energy companies when rated by 9,025 members of the public in the annual Which? customer survey.
It shares its customer score (of 69%) with Outfox the Market and Sainsbury's Energy.
Utility Warehouse received some of the best star ratings of the suppliers in our survey, with a good four stars in two areas, and three stars in the others. Only the top-scoring supplier got higher ratings for overall customer service and for how accurate energy payments are.
Utility Warehouse got lots of feedback from satisfied customers in our survey. One said: 'UW make bills easy to understand and sorted my issue regarding gas payments quickly'.
Another happy customer told us: 'They are competitive and I have a number of services with them, so I get additional discounts'.
In October 2023 we looked at four aspects of suppliers' business practices and procedures:
We did this using a combination of the responses to a survey we sent to suppliers and our own assessments.
Utility Warehouse received the highest score (of 80%) in our assessment of 18 suppliers' practices this year.
It received full marks for how it supports customers who need it, and missed just one point for how well it did against its most recent smart meter targets.
Customers' feedback in our survey gave Utility Warehouse a good four star rating for overall customer service. Several other firms - Co-Op Energy, E, Ecotricity and Sainsbury's Energy - scored the same. Only Octopus Energy managed five stars for its customer service.
But our behind-the-scenes assessment rated Utility Warehouse' customer service setup as middling compared with other firms. For example, other providers open their customer service phone lines for longer and and Utility Warehouse's isn't a freephone number.
Utility Warehouse works with Citizens Advice Plymouth to support customers who are struggling through its UW Hardship Fund. Eligible customers can get:
Some 7% of the Utility Warehouse customers in our survey said they made a formal complaint in the last year. This is middling compared with other providers in our survey.
On its website, Utility Warehouse said that billing was the top reason for customer complaints.
Yes, you can be a Utility Warehouse customer with both a traditional prepayment meter and a smart prepayment meter. Here's what you need to know:
Find out whether prepayment energy is right for you.
A small proportion of the overall electricity Utility Warehouse sells is matched with renewable sources. But it offers green tariffs with 100% renewable energy. It doesn’t generate renewable electricity or buy it directly from renewable generators.
Proportion of renewable electricity sold to customers | Generates renewable electricity? | Buys renewable electricity directly from generators (with subsidies)? | Buys renewable electricity directly from generators without subsidies? | Generates or buys power directly from fossil fuels? | Sells green gas? |
12.4% | No | No | No | No | No |
Proportion of renewable electricity according to Utility Warehouse’s 2022/23 fuel mix. Other responses based on information provided by suppliers in August 2023.
In August 2023, we asked energy companies for information on a range of sustainability criteria. We awarded them points based on their responses as well as information published on their websites, including the annual Fuel Mix Disclosure (FMD). Aspects we scored included how much of the electricity they supply is renewable and whether they generate renewable energy or buy it directly from generators.
Utility Warehouse’s electricity fuel mix for its non-green tariffs is 12.4% renewable, 73.3% gas and 7% coal.
Customers who choose its Double Gold tariff have their electricity matched with renewable sources using renewable energy certificates.
Utility Warehouse told us: 'We are committed to working towards a more sustainable, low-carbon future. We are committed to achieving a target of net zero emissions on or before 2050, across Scopes 1, 2 and 3, in line with a 1.5C world and obtaining validation of our targets by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), the gold standard voluntary body on emissions target setting.'
When we compared energy companies on their green credentials in November 2023, Utility Warehouse scored 10%. This places it near the bottom of our table of the 17 companies we rated.
Find out more about the differences between energy companies’ renewable electricity and how Utility Warehouse compares to others.