Utility Warehouse expansion promises Borders jobs

Utility Warehouse will create up to 80 jobs at its new base in the Borders

Up to 80 jobs are being created in the Scottish Borders with the opening of a new customer service hub.

Utility Warehouse will open the centre at Selkirk’s Ettrick Riverside on 12 June as part of a five-year expansion plan.

The London-based multi-utility company has already hired 25 new advisors with a view to take on a further 55 over the next 18 months.

Co-chief executive Andrew Lindsay said: "Our business is delivering exceptional growth as we help more families than ever before save on their essential household bills."

Andrew Lindsay said the business model was more secure than previous energy businesses to have opened in Selkirk

The Selkirk hub will provide support for Utility Warehouse’s pre-paid meter customers.

Across all of its services, Utility Warehouse is well on its way to reaching its target of an additional one million customers over the next four to five years, having seen numbers grow by 160,000 in the past 18 months.

Mr Lindsay admitted it was the town’s connections with previous energy firms that first attracted his company

He added: "Selkirk has a legacy of providing excellent customer care with companies such as Spark, Ovo and People's Energy.

"We are expanding and we need people with energy experience to look after our customers, so Selkirk was an obvious choice for us to open our new hub."

Selkirk's recent relationship with energy companies has been chequered.

Although a rescue deal was completed in 2018 after Spark Energy ceased trading, most of the 400 or so employees who moved over to Ovo Energy lost their jobs two years later when the Ettrick Riverside contact hub was closed as part of a national restructuring.

Utility Warehouse has moved into Ettrick Riverside in Selkirk

Edinburgh-based People’s Energy did open offices within the same business centre later in 2020 with plans to create 100 jobs.

But it ceased trading just a year later as turmoil struck the energy sector.

Despite the previous uncertainty, Mr Lindsay is confident Utility Warehouse offers a more secure future.

He said: "We are more than an energy company – we are a multi-utility company who provide broadband, mobile and insurance as well as energy.

"Our aim is to be a one-stop shop for households with their bills.

"And it is that approach that has allowed us to carry on growing and acquiring customers during what has been a difficult 18 months for the energy market."

Prof Russel Griggs, who chairs South of Scotland Enterprise, welcomed the new hub saying it could provide a "significant boost" to the local economy.