Your company may have had the same business water provider for years, or it may be quite a recent arrangement, not least if yours is a young enterprise. Either way, it is always worth looking to see if you can get a better deal.
Many bosses are not aware of how easy it can be to switch business water supplier, with our service making it a very simple task to help you find something more favourable.
However, the question must be asked: What constitutes a better deal? The obvious answer may seem to be about price alone, but while this can be a factor, especially when a large saving is available, you may also consider the wider package.
This can include the following issues:
- Does your existing provider offer good customer service?
- Does your existing supplier respond quickly to fix problems when they arise?
- Does your supplier maintain the infrastructure well to prevent problems from arising?
- Does your existing supplier help you build resilience into your water supplies to enable you to deal with contingencies and potential future challenges?
Why Is Water Resilience Important?
You might already have an idea of how well your supplier handles the first three of these issues, but the last may require some deeper consideration. You might not yet have faced a major supply disruption incident or a crisis like a severe drought.
In addition, there is also the question of future-proofing against challenges yet to come, with climate change and higher demand for water creating both greater water stress and flood risks.
While new reservoirs are planned in England, as well as better flood defences, it could be that some innovative solutions will help you. Could your provider help you to do this, ensuring that the water you need for your business use remains reliable?
An example of this may be an instance when supplies are disrupted and take longer to restore than hoped, often for reasons beyond the control of the water provider.
Such an instance occurred recently in Sutton Courtenay in Oxfordshire, where a burst main disrupted supplies to local homes, businesses and a school, due to low or zero water pressure. It took several days to restore supplies.
How Did Newts Delay Important Water Main Repairs?
Responsibility for fixing the problem lay with Thames Water, a company much maligned for its poor service, frequent fines for sewage dumping and financial problems that have left it close to collapse.
However, on this occasion, the firm was not at fault. The incident required more extensive digging than normal to reach the damaged pipes and the presence of newts was detected, which required protected species protocols to take priority.
Britain has three newt species – the palmate, smooth and great crested newt, with the palmate being protected and the great crested newt being subject to very strict protection. All this means even fixing the local water supply takes second place to their conservation.
Nature conservation laws and technical problems, such as the need to dig deeper or overcome geological issues, are examples of the sort of unexpected problems that can delay even essential work, while all the time, water users can face extended disruption.
Whatever the reason, if there is a high risk of extended supply problems, it makes sense for suppliers to work to build in resilience. In the Sutton Courtenay case, Thames Water sought to mitigate the problems by bringing in water tankers, but that may not always be enough.
This is one example where having means of storing water on site in tanks, or even having a well, can give your company premises access to auxiliary supplies of water that provide the back-up you need in times when supplies may be disrupted.
Further instances when this might prove useful include cases of water contamination or when a severe drought has occurred.
Can New Innovation Improve Water Resilience?
In January this year, Ofwat launched the Water Discovery Challenge to encourage innovators in the water sector to develop ways of improving water supplies, with seed funding for the best ideas.
This included innovations that could help deal with issues such as:
- Achieving net zero
- Reducing leaks
- Preventing pollution
- Eliminating storm overflows
- Adapting to climate change
With such opportunities for innovators, water firms will have opportunities to support or be involved with these efforts and therefore be in the vanguard of solving major challenges facing the water sector.
The question you may ask is whether your provider is among them and whether they will bring such innovations to bear in helping build resilience to your supplies while also meeting important environmental goals.
