Utilities warehouse v octopus

[Isetfiretotherain]

Need to reduce my energy bills. We have gas/electricity/broadband/SIM card with UW. Someone recently switched to octopus. Any opinions on uw v octopus?

UW was a scam when we tried it. Octopus have been great. Especially during Covid when I couldn't pay the suggested dd amount...

I'm with octopus and they are really good, when I've had a query I've had a response quickly.

If you pm me ( anyone ) I can send you a code for £75 off Octopus .
For disclosure , same to me .

My British gas long term 24m fixes are cheaper than the octopus 15m tarrifs. And no doubt the prices will increase year on year so I'm seeing this as the best option (the 24m fix)

I am currently with octopus but about to switch to BG. I think people like octopus but don't actually realise they are more expensive..

Oops it might be £50 !

If your main goal is to reduce bills why restrict yourself to one of two providers? Use a price comparison website surely?

I'm thinking of going to Octopus! I'll happily use your code 😀

We left Octopus for UW and it's been fantastic so far. £175pm, includes our internet/gas/electric and two mobile phones. We've also taken the cashback card which reduced our bill by over £30 last month. For context, our Octopus bill for gas/electric alone was £170pcm.

UW can be cheaper if you get additional services such as broadband and one SIM. We find the cash back card great as we shop at Sainsbury, Aldi and have Spotify and Netflix so money back on all those.

You have to compare with other suppliers based on your usage and wants.

Been with them off and on for 20 years never an issue.

I will have an offer code for both parties if anyone wants one.

I hear UW was basically a glorified MLM scheme. Total sham in many ways. But maybe they've changed? I've heard octopus aren't great either sadly.

UW don't have head offices, shareholders, expensive ad campaigns. Yes the reps that sign you up get a commission on your expenditure. I prefer that to the shareholders and fat cat executives in most of the other energy firms.

There has never been a hard sell and it's a product I want with no need to sign anyone else up.

We had a woman round from UW 5 years ago. She was here for 4 hours.. Apparently sorting out the bill owed to British Gas. Apparently they could do that. Getting it discounted and paid weekly. I ended up taking a bad hit to my credit rating. Ends next year... I had no idea that would happen...

We had an absolute nightmare with Scottish power, blew up our boiler not disconnecting it when they were firing a smart meter I want bothered about, in mid winter when I had a baby and then refused to fix it.
Been with octopus since and our costs are definitely down, I like the other bits too, the saving sessions, the free excess electricity sessions, the free café Nero/Greggs coffee the two for £10 cinema tickets etc. I've just fixed with them having been on flexible octopus and there are no exit fees

UW is an MLM

What are your standing charges and unit rates? How do they compare with what Octopus charged you?

Do you have a smart meter, out of interest? I don't but I'm thinking about it because I think these perks go with it.

I have a code for £50 credit when joining octopus. I also get £50

Your Octopus Energy Referral code
Use this link to sign up to Octopus - share.octopus.energy/loyal-dog-929

The UW broadband and mobile sim is more expensive than you can get elsewhere so negates any saving you might make on your gas and electricity.

You have to compare unit rates and standing charges between providers as any that just say 'we're cheaper based on this suggested direct debit' could well be assuming a lower amount than what you use.

Moneysavingexpert.com has a comparison site and an analysis on whether UW is as cheap as they claim.

@Bjorkdidit absolutely, everyone needs to do their homework and work out if it's cheapest for them.

It was cheaper for me to switch and get opening desks elsewhere but once they ended I had to switch again (and again) to keep it cheaper and sometimes it wasn't.

Is there a reason you can only use one of those two suppliers?

The best way to know for your specific circumstances is to use all the conparison sites with your actual usage figures and look at the big review sites for customer service if that's something you think you'll need

I've been with Octopus for a few years and couldn't be happier!

Sharing my referral code too for anywho wants £50 - https://share.octopus.energy/shy-may-125

We’ve been with UW for approx 10 years and have found the customer service to be excellent, always sorted out issues. We generally fix the gas and electric with them, we do compare with other suppliers but nobody can match them. We pay £130 per month for utilities, mobile phone and broadband.

I don't think I've ever had to phone my energy supplier, what kind of issues do you have to contact them about?

Do you have a smart meter or give regular meter readings ? That sounds incredibly cheap for all of those bills

we were with Octopus for ages - however, I've switched to E.On Next Pledge. It's not fixed but it does guarantee to be £50 below the price cap- and no exit fees so I can change again.

Looked into fixing but couldn't find anything without exit fees that would do a better job. It is therefore cheaper than Octopus which doesn't have a guaranteed discount tariff at the moment.

At the moment it is working well. We also still (shh) get the free hot drink every week on the Octopus App because they've not noticed we've switched away- and it has been three months.

Just like Octopus, you can get £50 of bill credit if you switch to E.ON Next - I will put my link below in case you can't find one elsewhere, but obviously that would also benefit me, so if you'd prefer to find another one I'm sure there are lots on other threads.

share.eonnext.com/super-river-52

People quoting their monthly cost is absolutely meaningless, it’s not like a mobile phone contract or Sky TV where you pay that and get (almost) limitless use. All gas and electric you pay for what you use. I’m with octopus and pay £200 per month. More than most quoted on here. But I’m paying of a debt that built up and also run an electric car. My night rate is 7.5p with them which I suspect is cheaper than what most other people pay, despite my seemingly high DD. The only thing worth comparing is the unit rate and standing charge.

To the person comparing octopus fixes with other fixes - do you pay an exit fee with the other companies? Often octopus you can leave their fixes before the time is up which is unusual, so no reason not to go for it! Whereas if you fix and prices fall and you have to pay an exit fee that’s not so good

for what it’s worth I’ve been nothing but pleased with octopus but I do run an EV and I think they have very competitive tariffs for that. May not be so brilliant if that’s not a consideration for you.