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The water cost reduction experts claim £ 30,000 water bill rebate.

Author:  Graham Mann, Water Audit Expert.

The water cost reduction experts at H²O Building Services completed a water audit for a leading automotive retailers under a national water bill validation and bureau service project. All water and waste water bills were diverted from each individual water supplier to the Bureau Team at H²O in order to compile a water database, this has been completed and the next stage was to check for historical billing errors.

In this instance the customer was being charged for property and highways drainage based on the commercial rateable value, the rate for this one site was high and the combined charges per annum were £ 12,000.

H²O’s water surveyor visited the property to discover that all of the rainwater draining from the site went to a natural water course and therefore the property drainage charges levied by Scottish Water Business Stream the water supplier in Scotland was deemed as charged incorrect and an application was prepared by the water audit team together with the documentary evidence. This is supplied via a drainage plan which shows where exactly the rainwater is drained to an open natural water course as the rainwater from the site does not drain to Scottish Water’s sewer, then if approved the charges for property drainage will be cancelled going forwards and a refund of all charges billed and paid are refunded. In this case a water bill rebate of £ 30,526.72 was refunded and savings going forwards of £ 6,000 per annum.

There are many £millions owed to businesses up and down the country due to incorrect charging by water companies, some overcharges are more complex than others due to differing ways in which water companies bill for services, in any event an initial water audit will cost you nothing but the financial rewards to a business can be substantial.