Professor David Elmes, Head of the Warwick Business School Global Energy Group, gave his thoughts on the news that Npower has sold 770,000 of its customer supply accounts to Telecom Plus.

He said: "Today’s deal announced between Npower and Telecom Plus reflects an interesting choice for people looking for the best overall deal not just energy but a broader range of home services.

"For some time, people have been able to get a package deal for services like energy, broadband, their fixed line phone and their mobile phone by contacting companies like Telecom Plus, who trade as the Utility Warehouse. Utility Warehouse don’t generate the energy or run the phone services – they buy them in bulk through the wholesale market for such services.

"Utility Warehouse sold management of its electricity plus and gas plus customers to Npower in 2006 and now we see the reverse deal where management of 770,000 customers is being transferred back to the Utility Warehouse along with a deal for Npower to supply Utility Warehouse with the gas and electricity their customers will use.

"Both companies are heralding this as making Utility Warehouse a sufficiently big supplier to compete with the “big six” – though npower will continue to have over 4.6 million accounts. Perhaps more interesting is the suggestion that Utility Warehouse are better at managing packages of services for customers, broadening completion to be a question of who provides your range of home services, not just gas and electricity."

To contact Professor Elmes, please call Ashley Potter, Press and PR Officer, Warwick Business School, +44 (0)7733 013264