Wyre Borough Council (WBC) were approached by Water Management Solutions (WMS) and WMS asked if WBC would like to undertake a water audit to see if any of our sites were being charged incorrectly. WMS were working in the Northeast and North West of England with many councils including Redcar & Cleveland Borough, Hartlepool Borough, Middlesbrough, Gateshead, Sunderland City and Northumberland County, Eden, South Lakes District, Carlisle City, and Cumbria County etc. Work would be carried out on a “no win no fee” basis.
The process to start the ball rolling was very quick and easy. Once we provided WMS with details electronically of all our sites. This information included site addresses, account numbers and billing information. After the information was provided to WMS, they 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.
Wyre Borough Council over the next few months 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 £72k with ongoing savings of almost £10k per annum. The process of recovering the money from the water company was carried out with WMS. In one of the cases, detailed negotiations with the water company were required and WMS’s expertise was vital in securing this reduction in costs.
As you can imagine WBC are delighted with the outcomes of this exercise and without WMS’s understanding of the water industry, the historical rebates and ongoing annual savings would have not been realised.
