Fury as energy firm flies 100 reps to £600-a-night Maldives resort for 8 days as millions struggle to afford heating
AN energy firm has flown 100 reps to a paradise island on an all-expenses-paid jaunt — as millions of Brits back home struggle with soaring bills and worry about putting on the heating.
Utility Warehouse agents have been treated to an eight-day jolly in the Maldives for signing up new customers.
One holidaymaker told The Sun: “It doesn’t sit right during a cost-of-living crisis.”
The group of 100 reps arrived in the Indian Ocean paradise last Tuesday and wasted no time in handing out business cards in the 27C (80F) sunshine.
They were whisked from capital Malé to the island of Ailafushi in a 15-minute speedboat ride across crystal-clear water.
The group are staying eight days all-inclusive at the OBLU Xperience where some rooms cost £594 a night.
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Male reps were seen playing volleyball in the pool while their partners relaxed on sunbeds.
Posh restaurants offer Indian, Thai and Italian cuisine and guests can pay extra to jet-ski, scuba dive and snorkel.
One holidaymaker said: “It doesn’t sit right during a cost-of-living crisis. All are wearing purple wristbands and look like they’ve been having a whale of a time.
"They just chill on the beach or by the pool most of the day. They have also hired out part of the restaurant.”
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Another angry honeymooner added: “They basically ruined our holiday. They were handing over business cards and giving us sales pitches.”
Campaigners and MPs hit out at the jolly, which was postponed from 2020 due to Covid.
Warren Kirwan, of disability charity Scope, fumed: “This is a kick in the teeth for disabled Brits. They’ll be lying on a beach in the sun while disabled people are freezing and starving in their own homes.
“Companies should be focusing on supporting those in greatest need instead of patting themselves on the back. Nobody should be profiteering on the back of this crisis.”
Utility Warehouse is built on word-of-mouth marketing. Its self-employed agents earn a commission every time they sign households to broadband, mobile and insurance deals.
Customers get bigger discounts the more they sign to.
Meanwhile, in exchange for signing up four new customers every month for a year, the agents, also known as partners, can be sent to exotic locations such as the Maldives and Mexico.
If they sign up 75 customers they can get a cheap lease on a Mini Cooper. If they sign up 200 they can use a Porsche Boxster for a month.
The company has boomed in the past year as customers seek cheaper deals. And while it boasts its energy offer is £125 less than the price cap, it is still around £1,000 more than it was a year ago.
Simon Francis, from the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “While these lucky people may be celebrating overseas, there is little joy back home among energy customers struggling to make ends meet.
“We’d urge energy firms to show restraint with bonuses and incentives while their profits are being made on the backs of young families, older people and those with disabilities living in cold, damp homes.”
Howard Cox, at FairFuelUK, added: “Utility Warehouse claim their environmental green tariffs make it easy for us to do our bit for the planet.
“Yet the company hypocritically and insensitively are happy to fly their people in a polluting jet on a free jolly to celebrate increased revenues.”
Labour MP Khalid Mahmood added: “This just shows the greed that is going on. We need to look into this madness when we are living through a cost-of-living crisis. This incentive is disgraceful when it could be helping those who need it most such as the elderly.”
Tory Kevin Foster said: “Families sat in a cold home will be bemused and angered to see the firm they are with flying people to tropical climes on the back of prices paid.”
Last June Utility Warehouse boasted record results with growth rising 20 per cent.
It now has 814,684 customers and is “targeting an additional million over the next four to five years”.
The firm also said: “With an ongoing cost-of-living squeeze, compounded by an expected increase to the energy price cap in October of £800, thousands of customers are turning to UW every week to save money on their bills.”
In its half-year financial results ending in September 2022, Utility Warehouse saw its revenue rocket 51.5 per cent to £562.4million.
Actress Joanna Lumley promoted its multi-level marketing scheme for Brits to become their own bosses in 2019. Two years ago Ofgem fined Utility Warehouse £1.5million for failing to “treat some of its customers fairly and to offer services and support to those in payment difficulty”.
At the time Utility Warehouse accepted its failings between 2013-18, which it admitted “resulted in some customers being disadvantaged and facing increased financial hardship”.
This month’s Ofgem review of energy supplier standards still found “moderate weaknesses” at Utility Warehouse in its handling of customer issues.
A spokesman for the company defended the jolly, saying: “More than 50,000 people across the UK from all backgrounds are UW Partners.
“Our partners are self-employed and earn an income by referring our services to their friends and family.
“In doing so, we offer a meaningful way to help people earn their way out of the cost-of-living crisis.
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“We also offer partners ways to earn extra incentives such as holidays.
“We are proud of our hard-working partners and are transparent about the opportunities that come with it.”
SIGN-UPS MADE OVER A CUPPA
By Ashley Armstrong
UTILITY Warehouse sells itself to future reps with the promise of big bonuses and awards — so long as they keep signing up customers.
Telling partners the best way to flog its deals is over a cup of tea and jotting “down the names of everyone you know”.
The firm says reps typically get £250 to £300 per customer and tells them that they can earn “as much as £400 if you really get motoring”.
Reps are incentivised to sign up customers because they earn a percentage of every monthly bill they sign up.
The firm promises: “It’s a steady commission that’s paid to you no matter what for the lifetime of each of your customers.
“You’re literally earning when you sleep.”
Pub idea to £1.5bn
UTILITY Warehouse’s parent Telecoms Plus makes a lot of its humble beginnings in 1996 when its co-founders gathered at a pub in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.
At the time it sold a “smart box” to let users route calls to networks at a cheaper rate than BT.
Using word-of-mouth marketing it has since added energy, broadband and telephone services.
The company is now valued at £1.5billion on London’s FTSE 250 index.
Last year it made almost £1billion in sales and is on track for record profits this year after revenues jumped to £562.4million.
Telecom Plus paid its boss Andrew Lindsay, left, £1.2million last year.