Easy steps with your business water can help keep running costs down in 2025 to 2026, in the face of the additional budget and cost challenges.
In fact, small steps with water can make a big difference – boosting your business’s resilience, helping your bottom line, reducing energy use – and even saving you valuable time.
With wholesaler rate increases from April 2025, now’s the perfect time to start looking closer at how water’s used at your business – and to tap into further opportunities for efficiencies.
Sben members Water Plus – multi award-winners for water management and Finalists for four UK Customer Awards in 2025 – show ways to cut utility costs and drive sustainability actions forward.
Steps to take:
1. Monitor water you’re using – to find more ways to save
Noting down water meter readings regularly – at least once a month, during the year – if you’re not already, is a great start. It gives you some initial data and insight, which helps budgeting and planning, helps to find areas for efficiencies – and allows you to spot any water issues early, like leaks.
Providing meter reads reduces bills based on estimated use and can be done in seconds online – at times suiting you – if you’re with Water Plus, through its free MyAccount platform for customers.
It’s worth providing a read, if the meter is safe to access, ahead of 31st March – and wholesaler price increases that will be included in water bills from 1st April, 2025 – so bills reflect what you’re using.
If it’s not safe to take a meter reading – or you need to track your water use even closer each day – then data logger technology can be installed, feeding into an easily accessible online analysis portal. It takes away the manual walkaround checks, while providing greater detail – and it’s amongst the services Water Plus can provide to help customers.
2. Check water pipes and equipment are working effectively
Regular checks at sites are worth the time, as they can show where water waste can occur – from dripping taps, to other signs of leaks and water continually running in toilets.
Stopping these quickly, when found, means less cost on bills, helping the bottom line.
In fact, one site had additional water loss through leaks that could have cost an estimated £64,000 in wholesaler rate costs, over 12 months.
These were identified in various locations at a distribution centre during a leak detection survey, provided through the Water Plus Advanced Services team in the last year, with 793 litres an hour of water being lost, water meter data showed. Leaks were found in staff toilets in five locations and on a urinal.
Leaks on underground pipes have also been located and fixed at sites in recent months by the Water Plus Advanced Services team.
It’s also worth checking all water-using equipment’s working effectively – and are on the most water and energy efficient settings. While this sounds obvious, at times it can be overlooked – particularly at busy sites. It delivers an efficiency gain, at no extra cost.
3. Explore low-cost efficiency devices, to cut costs and carbon emissions
Low-cost tap aerators are great at reducing flow rates – cutting the amount spent on water and energy costs for less hot water.
Taps can use 6 litres of water, on average, a minute – though visits to businesses have found average flows can be higher, with some using 15 litres of water a minute, on average. That’d fill 60 cups of coffee, holding 250ml each, a minute.
In fact, a 37% average water-saving was found at sites in a range of sectors – including ones located in Staffordshire – through small, low-cost efficiency devices, which included tap aerators and water efficient taps. These were installed through the Water Plus Advanced Services team after they took up water audits with Water Plus – as part of services they can provide.*
It’s also worth remembering there are carbon emissions linked to all water used at buildings, so you cannot go Net Zero without considering – and looking closer at – the water you’re using and the way it’s being used.
With additional sustainability reporting requirements for larger businesses – including for Boards, suppliers and customers, looking to water – to help power decarbonisation progress and wider efficiencies – is worth the time.
To tap into bigger business efficiencies to cut operating costs, energy use and carbon in 2025, through small water efficiency actions, water audits and leak find and fix services, contact: advancedservices@water-plus.co.uk.
To partner with Water Plus, for water retail services, contact: hello@water-plus.co.uk.
More tips and details on services Water Plus can provide at: water-plus.co.uk/better-ways-with-water.
*Costs and savings in this article are for 2024. The 37% average water-saving identified, on estimated annual water use, was across 51 sites that had water efficiency kit installed through business water retailer Water Plus during 2024. Saving based on data collected during water audits and expected reductions in flow rates and water use, at each site, from efficiency devices installed.