Utilities
One brand, more than one contract
Some companies sell broadband beside gas and electricity, and sometimes beside a mobile plan. One direct debit does not make them one contract. One Touch Switch can move the broadband. It does not move the energy. The energy follows supplier rules and, in Great Britain, the Ofgem framework. Split the bill before you change either line.
Reviewed 5 November 2026 · 6 min read · Independent · Not a price list
How to split a combined bill
Ask for the broadband line on its own: the monthly price now, the price after any introduction, the minimum term, any upfront cost, any in-contract rise in pounds and pence, and the exit fee if you leave early. Ask for the energy on its own: the unit rates, the standing charges, whether you are on a default tariff or a fix, the end date of any fix, and the exit fee.
If they will not separate the figures, you cannot know which service is expensive. A “household” monthly total hides a cheap energy deal wrapped around an expensive line, or the reverse. Do not switch both because the total looks large. You might need to switch one.
Utility Warehouse is the brand on our provider list that is built as a multi-utility retailer, through Telecom Plus. Its broadband is still a communications service. Its energy is still energy. Treat the guide to that brand as a broadband guide. Confirm energy with them as an energy question, not as a footnote.
Discounts that depend on keeping both
A discount that applies only while you take two services is a condition. Ask what the broadband costs if the energy leaves, and what the energy costs if the broadband leaves. Write both answers. The discount is not a property of the line. It is a property of the bundle, and it dies when the condition dies.
Do not let the fear of losing a discount choose a worse network. If the only fast plant at the door is a different broadband provider, price the energy as a standalone after the broadband move, including any exit fee on the energy fix. Then decide. A discount cannot create a network that is not in the street.
Cashback for taking both is not a reduction in this month’s broadband price until it is paid. Leave it out of the sum. Mark it unpaid.
Two processes, even at one call centre
The broadband switch, where One Touch Switch applies, is started by the new broadband provider. They contact the provider you are leaving. You should not cancel the broadband first in the ordinary case. The energy switch is an instruction to the new energy supplier. Cancelling energy yourself can matter in a different way. Do not assume the script you were taught for broadband is the script for the meter.
A house move makes this sharper. Meter readings close the energy at the old address and open it at the new one. The broadband at the new address is a new provide. The same brand can help with both only if it actually supplies both at both addresses. Ask. A brand that supplies broadband nationwide may not supply energy, and a brand that supplies both may not have the network at the new flat.
Complaints follow the same split. A wrong energy unit rate goes to the energy supplier and, if needed, the energy redress scheme. A missed broadband engineer goes to the broadband provider and, if needed, their telecoms scheme. Quoting the Ofgem cap at a telecoms ombudsman will waste a week. Quoting Ofcom’s compensation figures at an energy supplier will waste another.
Where the cap fits, and where it does not
The Ofgem cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026 is a Great Britain default-tariff ceiling, illustrated as £1,723 a year for typical Direct Debit use, with the average unit rates set out on our price-cap page. It is not the price of a multi-utility bundle. A supplier can charge less. A fix can sit either side of it. A household that uses more than typical pays more than the illustration.
Do not subtract £1,723 from a broadband comparison. Do not add it to a provider’s broadband price and call the result the household cost, unless you have also written your real energy consumption down. The illustration is a national sketch. Your statement is the bill.
Reviewed 5 November 2026. Energy rates change on Ofgem’s calendar. Broadband prices change when providers change offers. Neither date rewrites the other. Keep two notes.
Questions
- Does One Touch Switch cancel my energy?
- No. Tell the energy supplier, or the new supplier, under energy rules. The broadband process does not close a meter.
- Is Utility Warehouse just a broadband brand?
- No. It sells more than broadband. The broadband still has to be available at the premises, and the energy is a separate contract.
- They gave me one monthly price. Is that the line?
- Not unless they say it is. Ask them to split broadband and energy before you compare.
- I will lose a dual-fuel discount. Should I stay?
- Price the line alone and the energy alone, including exit fees. Then decide. The discount is not the network.
- Who regulates the energy half?
- Ofgem, in Great Britain. Ofcom regulates the communications half. Northern Ireland energy is outside the Ofgem cap.
- Can you compare energy unit rates on this site?
- We cite the dated Ofgem averages. We do not invent a supplier’s tariff, and we do not switch energy.