UW Partner numbers have increased to 60,000

“For anyone evaluating the viability of Utility Warehouse and it’s UW Partner Opportunity, a read of the latest Telecom Plus PLC report and accounts is highly recommended.

As follows is page-one of the Chairman’s Statement for the year ended 31st March 2023. For the most recent report and accounts click here.

I am pleased to report an exceptional performance during FY23 with record revenues, record profits, and record organic growth in both customer and service numbers.

Adjusted pre-tax profits increased by 55% to £96.2m (2022: £61.9m) reflecting both the strong double-digit growth we achieved in our customer and service numbers over the last 18 months, and the significant rises in the Ofgem Energy Price Cap over the period, partially offset by extra growth related costs and an increase in the value of the energy savings we gave our customers to a record level of over £30m.

Revenues grew by more than £1.5bn to £2,475.2m (2022: £967.4m) reflecting both the strong organic growth achieved in customer and service numbers, and the impact from progressively higher energy prices during the year.

Adjusted earnings per share for the year rose by 57% to 99.2p (2022: 63.2p). Statutory pre-tax profits rose by 81% to £85.5m (2022: £47.2m), and statutory EPS rose by 92% to 86.6p (2022: 45.1p).

We comfortably exceeded our internal growth targets for the year, with customer numbers increasing by 157,899 (2022: 71,269) to 886,579 and service numbers rising by 533,239 (2022: 191,112) to 2,798,148.The difference between our growth in service numbers of 23.5% and customer numbers of 21.7% demonstrates the strong appeal of our differentiated bundled proposition, even during a year when energy prices dominated the domestic media agenda.

Our strong customer demographic (skewing towards multiservice homeowners), competitive market positioning (where we are consistently offering the UK’s lowest energy prices to both new and existing customers), and limited appetite amongst other suppliers to attract new customers during a period of rising prices, resulted in our energy customer churn for the year remaining below 3%, although in recent months it has ticked up modestly to around 5% on an annualised basis.

Interest in the income opportunity we offer to our Partners continued to grow, particularly during the second half, reflecting increased levels of confidence in recommending the UW customer proposition and the growing demand for an additional income as the cost of living continued to rise. This resulted in total Partner numbers increasing to almost 60,000 by the end of the year.

I am exceptionally proud of the vital roles played by everyone in our business, in enabling us to deliver this record Company performance, against a background of repeated sizeable increases in the cost of energy alongside considerable government and regulatory intervention. To have been ranked as top supplier during such a challenging period by Uswitch in their 2022 Energy Awards for ‘Best Customer Service’ and ‘Most Likely to Recommend’ is a huge achievement, and testament to both the value we offer and the considerable efforts by all of our teams to deliver the best possible customer service.

In addition to supporting our customers with the UK’s cheapest energy throughout this challenging period, we also supported our employees in managing the rising costs that they themselves were facing, by providing them with £800 in one-off payments over the winter, and a company-wide CPI-linked 10.1% increase in salary from 1 April 2023.”

Charles Wigoder
Non-Executive Chairman
27th June 2023

To read the full TelecomPlus Report and Accounts for the year ended 31st March 2023, please click here.