Water should be treated along the same lines as your gas and electricity. In fact, I often say I am an energy manager responsible for all utility gas, electric and water.
But did you know that saving Water in your business and your homes could actually save you Gas and Electricity costs?
I call this my ‘Treble Whammy’ Water savings on reducing Flow, dripping taps, leaks and sheer waste provides 3 Savings:
1. Water Consumption
2. Sewage Savings
3. Heating (whether by Electricity or Gas)
I wanted to build on this as Water is part of the third-largest expense for business and homeowners and I wanted to discuss this further. The water management very similar to energy management follows the same process of reviewing the bills.
After reading this document you will be able to use less mains water consumption, significantly reduced water costs and reduce the environmental impact.
Water Supply Market
Legislation introduced on April 1st, 2017 provided changes that affected the way businesses contracted for their water and wastewater supply.
Before 2017, businesses had no choice in choosing their retail water and wastewater service, but thanks to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and The Water Services Regulation Authority (OFWAT) this was changed, there is now room similar to the energy market for new companies, dedicated to water and sewage management, to be formed. This means the water will all still come from the same source, the wholesaler.
Water Billing
This again falls into the many issues we have within the energy market of both estimated billing and incorrect billing. Water meters are not always easy to find as they are external to the building and they could be in a car park, where you often have a car parked over the covers. In addition to this, the meter compartment may be flooded so there is no way to review the meter. My recommendation here would be to create a ‘Meter Asset Document’ especially if you have more than one meter. This will state where the meter is and what access is required.
Sometimes the suppliers have wrongly stated what meter is installed. So, this is important to check as they may be billing based on an incorrect meter. The meter could also have two readings which will mean that there is a by-pass meter which counts when the flow is low. The meters will be provided with a unique supply number known as Supply Point Identification (SPID)
The actual bills in my opinion are or can be once again complex so there is certain terminology that you will need to be familiar with on your bill. Now based on the UK market you are likely to see these areas showed on your bill:
• Account Summary area
• Consumption area
• Water Consumption
• Sewer Consumption
• Rainwater
There is likely to be links to areas like Non-Return to Sewer and possibility Trade Effluents
• Non-return to sewer your metered sewerage bill is based on 95% of the water you use returning to the sewer. The 5% allowance covers all household use, e.g. drinking, cooking, watering the garden and washing the car as well as considering wet and dry years. This can be challenged if you believe that you are possibly returning less than 5% to 10%
• Trade Effluents – Trade effluent is any liquid waste (effluent) discharged into our sewers from a business or industrial process. Trade effluent is any liquid waste (effluent) discharged into our sewers from a business or industrial process. This includes any wastewater derived from a production process or from washing down or cooling activities including wastes from public-funded activities such as municipal landfills. This can be best described as anything other than domestic sewage (toilet, bath or sink waste) or uncontaminated surface water and roof drainage (rainwater).