Sunderland City Council were approached by Water Management Solutions (WMS) and WMS asked if Sunderland City Council would like to undertake a water audit to see if any of our sites were being charged incorrectly. Initially a pilot scheme was undertaken with WMS covering 10 properties and following audit it was found that a site was being incorrectly charged resulting in a refund to the Council. Following this pilot Sunderland City Council undertook a procurement exercise to appoint a specialist water auditing company to review the entire portfolio. WMS were appointed following this procurement exercise.
At the time WMS were also working with several councils in the Northeast and North West of England including Redcar & Cleveland Borough, Hartlepool Borough, Middlesbrough, and Northumberland County, Eden, South Lakes District, Carlisle City, Cumbria County etc. It was explained the work would be carried out on a “no win no fee” basis.
The process to start the ball rolling was very quick and easy. Sunderland City Council provided WMS with details electronically of all our sites from schools to depots. This information included site addresses, and billing information. After the information was provided to WMS, WMS started their process of the water audit, looking at the various charges for each of our sites. The audit enabled both current and historic charges to be checked, consumption was looked at for every site, suitability of tariffs etc so it was a comprehensive review.
Over the next few months, Sunderland City Council were asked various questions regarding a few different sites, so WMS could gather as much information to determine if there was a claim to be made.
WMS’s expertise revealed historical issues on a small number of sites, resulting in rebates of over £120k with ongoing savings of almost £40k per annum. The process of recovering the money from the water company was carried out with WMS. In one of the cases detailed negotiation with the water company was required and WMS’s expertise was vital in securing this reduction in costs
Sunderland City Council are delighted with the outcomes of this procurement and without WMS’s understanding of the water industry, the historical rebates and ongoing annual savings would have not been realised.
