A service provider which helps people save money on their bills has opened a customer-dedicated centre in East Lancashire and is donating £10,000 to local charities.

Utility Warehouse (UW) has set up shop in Burnley - its first location outside London - as record numbers of households turn to the firm to save money on their bills. 

The new site, in the Burnley Business Centre, will act as a 'Centre of Excellence and a local hub for the team, which has seen huge growth in the last year as UW continues to ramp up its UK-based customer service team.

Stuart Burnett, Co-CEO of UW, said: “Brilliant customer service from our UK-based team is at the heart of what UW offers, and we're delighted to have welcomed so many new advisers as more and more UK households turn to us to help them save money on their bills.

“While remote and flexible working is the new normal for our customer service teams, we absolutely believe in the value of coming together in person to develop and continue to grow as individuals and as a team.

“That’s why we’ve opened a Centre of Excellence in Burnley to help guide customers through their first 60 days with UW and give our employees, both new and existing, a place to come together and learn from each other.”

UW has hired more than 300 new advisors in the past year, all UK-based and many working in a hybrid or fully remote and flexible capacity. 

The Burnley office will enable many of these employees to come together with colleagues for in-person training and coaching sessions, as well as providing a space for UW’s partners to hold meetings. 

UW has initially hired 25 new advisors in the Burnley hub, with two team leaders to help support them, with plans to expand up to 50 advisers in the near future. 

Burnley was selected because it has a high number of the company’s existing remote workers in the local area. It’s also incredibly well-served by public transport links which makes it an easy place to get to for new and existing employees and UW Partners.

A spokesperson for UW said: “As part of the office opening, the UW Foundation is pledging a donation of £10,000 across several local charities in Burnley including Depher CIC, Team Rise and Burnley Community Kitchen.

“Supporting local communities is fundamental to how UW operates and the UW Foundation is proud to be able to provide vital donations to these charities.”