Bills, Bills, Bills; something Destiny’s Child famously made sound great in song form but are anything but in reality. While we all know bills are a necessity, there is still no worse feeling than coming home after work to find a few bills have come through the letterbox, especially when it’s a bill for something like your water usage.
You may have seen in the news recently that the average home in England and Wales should soon see water bills go down by roughly £17 a year. Now it isn’t much, but any saving is a good one. And while it’s all great when you know every time you boil the kettle for a brew that it’s going to be ever so slightly cheaper, if you’re running a business, water bills can be a bit of a nightmare.
Companies that have to use significant volumes of water to keep things running can get hit by big bills every quarter if they’re not smart with water. What do I mean by this? Well here are some of the ways businesses up and down the length of the UK can get water bills down and see more than just £17 off their bills.
Find out who your supplier is
You might not know this, but you get water in the same way you get broadband or electric. An independent company acts as your water company. It all happened in 2017 when the market was deregulated and opened the doors for companies to compete with each other for your business.
These water companies work just like the electric companies. They will take on the cost of the service as the middle man between you and the company that runs the water network. This means that anytime someone has a problem, there’s a company there who can really push the buttons to get things fixed, as it’s in their interest for your water to work; otherwise, they’re not getting your money and losing out on their investment.
Know that you can switch supplier
When the changes in the market came into effect, most businesses across the UK would’ve gotten a letter stating that their water bills were now being looked after by a different company and just left it at that. What isn’t so well known is that you can take your business and easily up sticks to someone else.
Luckily for us on the customer end, the water business is incredibly competitive, and they want your business. Find one that has agents in your area and will promise to give you freebies like a water audit or water contingency plans (like what do to if there’s a drought in your area in the summer months).
Get “Smart” with your company’s water
If you’re running a business without a water meter, you’ll most likely get bills that work off a fixed charge and a figure based off what the local council has calculated as the value of the property. Seems like a bit of a hokey way to calculate a bill, doesn’t it?
Well banish the crazy math and start paying exactly what your business uses. The easiest way to do that is by getting smart meters installed in your property. They take a water metre reading that reflect the real cost of what you’re using, meaning your bills won’t feel someone taking a stab in a dark for a made-up number.
Know your rights!
One more tip that is vitally important and could see you avoid disputes between your water company and possibly a building owner if you’re the tenant in a building. Business owners have certain rights and responsibilities when it comes to pipes, sewers, leaks and water work carried out on private land.
OFWAT, the Water Services Regulation Authority, are the people to get in touch with whenever you have the slightest of water issues, as they can give you advice and let you know who is responsible for what, so you don’t end up with your business getting interrupted by a fight between you and your supplier. Once you know the little things like who is responsible for the supply pipe (Property owner) or the water mains (Water company), you’ll know who to be talking to and avoid missing out on work getting done.
