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How to save money on your business water rates

In this article, we discuss ways companies can reduce water consumption and other ways you can save money on business water rates.

When businesses look to save money, saving on water costs is not always at the forefront of their mind. However, by understanding how your business consumes water, you can then start to identify areas where you can make savings, therefore freeing up additional funds to help you grow your business and help it to achieve its goals.

By knowing how your business uses water and where it’s used, you can start identifying opportunities for efficient water use. This guide can help you identify potential water savings.

3 Core reasons to save on your business water usage

Here we will discuss a range of reasons why you should save on your water rates and secure your water supply to ensure efficient use of water, which will provide you as a business with monetary savings and reduce the pressure on the environment.

To secure water supplies

As water supplies become more scarce, securing your water supply is of high importance now for businesses. It is becoming more and more expensive to build new infrastructure to provide suitable water supplies to businesses in the UK.

By securing and saving units of water, you will save money yourself and reduce pressure on the environment as a more efficient water supply provides resilience to climate change.

Complying with legislation and protecting the environment

By complying with the environmental legislation, you may be eligible for tax savings due to sustainable water usage.

For instance, The Enhanced Capital Allowance (ECA) water scheme encourages businesses to use technology to improve water quality and enhance water usage efficiency.

The ECA then offers up to 100% claim back for first-year investments in specific technologies and products.

Using water efficiently also reduces the portion of water drawn from aquifers and rivers, protecting these valuable sources.

Save money on your business water rates

By creating a water-efficient business, you will begin to save money on your business water rates since you won’t be using as much. Your current water supplier will guide you on how you can become a more water-efficient business and the potential technologies available.

By becoming more efficient with your water usage, you will save money in the long run. It’s a long term plan and not something to view as a quick saving scheme, it both saves you money and protects the environment – a win-win situation.

How to reduce your business water rates

The best ways to reduce your business water rates can come in the form of long term investment in technology, improving your water usage efficiency or simply swapping your water supplier. We are here to help you identify areas in which you can save both water usage and spend.

Here’s how you can save money on your business water rates:

Compare business water rates

In 2017 the business water market was deregulated, allowing new water suppliers to enter the market. These new, more innovative suppliers focus more on customer service and charge lower business water rates.

By comparing your business water suppliers, you can find what your business is looking for, whether that’s improving customer service, reducing business water rates, or consolidating and simplifying your business water bill.

Use our business water comparison tool here, it only takes a few seconds, and an advisor will be able to assist you with the request.

Reducing your water consumption

Reducing your water consumption will bring down your business water rates, however, you’re probably thinking, “But I need to use this amount of water, so how can I reduce the consumption?”.

This may be the case but you must look into how you are currently consuming water; many businesses are woefully wasteful and don’t realise it.

Here are a few tips to reduce your water consumption immediately:

• Use smart water meters – you can set water targets and monitor your water usage on a weekly basis.
• Insulate your water pipes to reduce the risk of them cracking or bursting, reducing the chance of a water leak.
• Analyse your current water bills – find out where you have spikes and identify what’s causing them.
• Carry out regular maintenance checks to ensure you’re running as efficiently as possible.

For long-term water-saving strategies, here are a few ideas to implement over the next few months to ensure efficient water usage:

• Purchase automatic water taps – triggered by a sensor.
• Use rainwater harvesting devices.
• Create a water recycling infrastructure that will help you to use both rainwater and greywater.
• Implement a sensored irrigation system to control your water flow.
• Apply efficient flushing systems to all of your toilets.

Business water wastage and water leakage

One major water-consuming issue is water leaks, a problem many businesses won’t notice as they do not monitor their usage or check their water bills. A leaking water pipe can cause you to consume large amounts of unnecessary water consumption.

In 2016/2017 it was reported 3.1 billion litres were lost due to leakage in England and Wales (Source: CCWater). This is a huge amount of water that both takes its toll on business profits and the environment. Make routine checks of your piping and analyse your water bills to ensure you get it fixed straight away to save on your business water rates.

We hope this article was of use and has helped give you a few ideas on how to become a more water-efficient business and save yourself money. If you want to chat with an advisor on how you can save money on your water, please feel free to speak to one of our on-hand water experts here.