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?

You can leave any fix if it's fewer than 50 days before the end of the contract as they're not allowed to charge the penalty after that time.

We've also moved to Eon Next Pledge after a few years at Octopus.

The latest Martin Lewis podcast said that this was likely to be very close in cost to the current cheapest fixes as Eon Next Pledge is 3% below the current price cap but the cheapest fixes are a few percent above.

im paying £450 for gas/electricty which seems a lot. We don’t really have a good tarriff for hybrid car so tha may be a reason to switch! Just paying far too much and we also nearly had a fire as the smart meter was not fitted correctly. They sent an engineer eventually (after over 3 months of asking) and it took ages. Eventually came with a pre paid meter instead of a smart one 🫣🙄

We are with Octopus and haven't had any problems. You get a free hot drink at Gregg's or neros every week too which is quite nice!

This is my referral code if anyone would like to use it. It gets you and me £50of credit.

Use this link to sign up to Octopus - https://share.octopus.energy/wise-rain-643

UW is an MLM and as such I would never support them.
It would be best to do a general comparison using a website but we are actually with Octopus and very happy with them.
They are responsive (Uk call centres) and have sorted out a few issues for me very quickly

Just here to reiterate UW are scam cunts a multi level marketing scheme. I used to rent a house and the landlord was part of it so we used them. They messed up a meter read and said not to pay until resolved. Now I would have put the money to the side but at 19, I didn't and this led to a meter being installed. Despite being a student at the time they took £25 a week debt on top of actual usage because I'd said I had a full time job - obviously I never said that as I didn't. They were the least sympathetic bunch of cunts I've ever come across. I was crying on the phone to them as I only earned £140 a week but they wouldn't help. No plan, no assistance, straight to a meter I couldn't afford. Landlord was a bellend too.

I've been with octopus since Covid and they've been fabulous. Even with the recent price hikes, o told them I wouldn't be paying what they suggested and they said that's fine. I'm in credit which may mean they also try to rip people off but the staff are lovely and happy to take my payment.

That sounds bad. Why would they want to put a prepaid meter in???? Can you get it out?

Depends how big your house is but we have a three bed detached and pay £197 for both. I have a hybrid car but don't charge it

They messed up and had a code to override. They are about to pay us some comp but hearing other people I think were
getting a bug deal. Even if we can reduce back to £250 this would help

One of my friends has been having huge issues with UW as they're overpaying each month as well as having a huge credit, but UW refused to lower the payments or refund the credit. They're looking to move suppliers as they tried cancelling their DD but then got aggressive letters from UW. They also found the home insurance was way more costly after the first year.
I found Octopus to be cheaper for utilities. I'm happy with Octopus, I have an EV but have a normal tariff as have 2 teens at home so probably wouldn't benefit from the EV tariff (cheaper overnight but more expensive during the day).

Octopus are great until something goes wrong and then they are awful. Awful service, hard to get a response from etc my complaint is with the Energy Ombudsman at the moment. Billed me approx £1200 on top of monthly billing out of nowhere, will not tell me why, none of my bills make sense, refuse to give me a written response on anything or any kind of explanation. No experience of UW.

I'm with octopus since Bulb went bust, and no issues.
I've been able to mange my monthly payment amount, plus take my credit out without hassle when I crept up.

In some areas, if you are on a smart meter, they give you 'power up' sessions if there had been alot of wind or sunshine. The day before, I get noticed that this session will be 10-12, or 13:00-1530 for example. If I opt in, I get any electric I've used within the session time reimbursed back to me. During these times, I use the washing machine, dishwasher, oven, vacuum and anything else I can.

We've recently renovated, and all our appliances are fairly efficient anyways, so at most, these sessions amount to about £2-3 back to the account. If you had a solar battery you could charge, or a car, then maybe you'd get more money back. The session might be 3 per week, or 1 a fortnight, so not a reliable thing and only in selected areas.

Separately, they also have 'Free Electrical sessions' occasionally, but these only reimburse the additional electric above your average for the past 10days, for that time period. At most, these sessions give me 50p back!

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

@modgepodge
When they reduce the rate it's usually in summer when your useage is at its lowest.

Then they hike it a few times over winter so I feel I have made the logical decision to fix for 24 months at a cheaper rate than octopus were offering and I am certain it will save me money from the hikes that will come next year as well.

You only get back what extra energy use use during those times based on what you historically use at those same times. You don't get all your energy free at that time. Just fyi.

I don't like the MLM aspect of UW, however as others have said, it might be cheaper for you especially if you take more than one product from them.
I get broadband and mobile very cheaply through work so Octopus works out cheaper for me.
Their customer service has been excellent in the nearly 2 years I've been with them.
If anyone checks Octopus and finds they can save money, feel free to PM me for a referral code which will give both you and me £50 back towards our energy usage.
As Tesco said "every little helps" !!

UW love home-owners who take multiple services. If that's you, they're really hard to beat. Their business model is built on long-term customers who don't chop and change, and if you fall outside of that model they're often still competitive, but you're not their target audience (if that makes sense).

I'm a bit out of the loop but for all those who blather on about MLM and Pyramid sh1t, honestly, if you don't know how business works (you work to pay bills, your boss earns more than you, his boss earns more than him etc etc) you're really not the expert you think you are.

People who "sell" UW are usually normal (real) people, with an exceptional backstory who sell this stuff to their friends, families and loved ones, with a clear conscience.

If you prefer, you could just throw lit £50 notes at Southern Electric and British Gas etc, who have never once come under scrutiny and clearly would be a much better bet for your hard earned cash than the local entrepreneur who';s working really hard just trying to support their family and getting you a better deal than you knew was possible....

That right there; the referral code. You’re literally an MLM 😂

UW is a mlm so I would avoid

The difference though is octopus don't ask me to open my own little octopus franchise and sell to my friends and family. The staff who work for octopus make an hourly wage with pension, sickness benefits, maternity and paternity rights and employment benefits. Their staff also pay into the country via taxes. UW have a commission only army of staff with the vast majority earning next to nothing with no employment rights. That is the issue with mlm - they exploit the workers by dangling a dream in front of them and get them to work for free.

Sharing a referral code isn't mlm because it is a one off thing. If I was getting paid a percentage of everyone's bill who was using my code and had to spend a vast amount of time contacting people to try to get them to sign up with me and use my code then it would be mlm. Here is my code by the way.

Use this link to sign up to Octopus - https://share.octopus.energy/grape-rain-175

If changing to octopus look at their smart tarrifs provided you have a smart meter- agile, tracker, go. I am on agile and as I work from home and can load shift away from the 4pm to 7pm peak rates I have very cheap electric bills. Appreciate this may not suit everyone and the key to agile is load shifting.
I think octopus are great. Innovative, good customer service (contact them on the site formerly known as twitter) and their fixed rates if you choose them have no penalty. I have just fixed my gas and will likely come out in the summer when rates are lower and refix then.

UW love home-owners who take multiple services. If that's you, they're really hard to beat

Does that take into account both their broadband and mobile sim being a fiver a month more than is available elsewhere?

I have a pretty good idea how Business works having run several and advised SME's and one thing I am pretty sure of is that nowhere outside of an MLM would you be encouraged or even required to persuade people to set up exactly the same business in the same or nearby area that could basically be in competition with you.

Unless you live in an area that does both! As I said in my post, there are 2 schemes. 1 is indeed where you only get back any extra electric you use over your average for a certain hour or 2.

The 2nd scheme- which isn't available to all households, and I believe it being trialled, are powers ups. During those times, we get back the cost of ALL electric used in the house- its usually between 1-3hrs at set times. We are fortunate to live in an area that does both. Possibly because we are coastal and when its windy or sunny- the following day we often get a power up to opt into.

No it's not - lots of companies offer referral codes to customers to pass to their contacts for a one-off benefit. If you took my referral code and joined Octopus we'd both get a one-off benefit.
If you then gave others your referral code, I wouldn't derive any benefit from your contacts.

However as I understand it UW's people make ongoing commission from the people they sell to, and the people that those people sell to. That's an MLM.

We are coastal and I've never heard of it. Anyway, people think octopus are cheaper or are happy getting a free hour or two of energy or a cup of coffee for free. I prefer my unit rate to be cheaper, hence why I am leaving them at the end of the month!

Octopus are brilliant, use my link to sign up and receive £50 credit on your account.

Use this link to sign up to Octopus - share.octopus.energy/witty-peak-793

Octopus energy were awful for us! Look at the reviews online and all the customers setting up groups to support each other. Also read this article with the Guardian online: "Octopus Energy founder appointed as UK government adviser" Does this sound ethical to you???

We are quite happy with our new provider.