In April 2025, water prices will rise significantly, as water companies increase their rates. This won’t just affect households; commercial buildings across the country will feel the impact, too. When water bills increase, it’ll be very important to try and reduce water usage on your site, so that your monthly costs don’t grow by any more than they have to.
At Facilities Management Solutions, we know how important it is to keep on top of the utilities and energy costs, while still keeping your site running smoothly, so we’ve put together some tips to support you as your water bills rise.
Why will your water bills increase, and how much will water bills increase by?
At the end of each year, water companies and the Water Services Regulation Authority, ‘Ofwat’ review their future plans and set new water prices for the financial year, which starts in April. This year, they are kickstarting a major programme to improve water and sewage infrastructure, and the price increases that come with that are substantial.
This year, prices will rise by an average of 26% (depending on your provider), according to Water UK, making this the biggest increase since the privatisation of the water sector. While the average homeowner is expected to see about a £10 a month increase, the impact felt by businesses – especially ones with large sites – will face much higher costs.
How to Reduce water usage on your commercial site
With prices rising, the only way to offset this cost is to reduce the amount of water that you use on your site. The simplest way to do this is limit how much water you waste, so efficiency is key, but there are also more proactive ways to cut down that bill each month.
Here are some ways that you can reduce your water usage as a business and save your organisation a bit of money.
The Efficiency and Health of your Plumbing System
As you might expect, your plumbing system is the most integral part of your commercial site when trying to avoid wasting water. The efficiency of your system and the overall health of the appliances is key. Identifying and fixing leaks or other issues as soon as possible is also important when trying to reduce water waste.
Our sister company, Plumbing & Gas Solutions, recently published a similar blog post to this going over the ways that you can upgrade your plumbing system, which is a perfect place to start!
Plus, PGS is offering free plumbing surveys for any commercial sites in Milton Keynes or the surrounding areas, to provide expert insight and advise you on how to cut down your plumbing costs. If you’d like to take advantage of this, you can fill in the enquiry form in their blog post, or reach out to them at info@pgsolutions.co.uk.
Rainwater Harvesting & Recycling
If you’re trying to cut down the amount of water that you have to buy from water providers, you’ll probably want to consider ways to get water from elsewhere. This is where commercial rainwater harvesting becomes beneficial. As a business in the UK, your building is undoubtedly exposed to plenty of rain each year – so, why not harness it?
Rainwater harvesting systems collect the rainwater that has fallen on your roof, filter any leaves or debris out of it, and then use this ‘free’ water for your toilets and urinals, and any other water points that don’t require fresh mains water. Similarly to how you would use a rainwater butt in your garden for watering plants, this water still plays a vital role in your site, but you won’t need to pay the increased prices for mains water just to flush your toilets.
This will not only save you money over time, as you can potentially reduce your mains water usage by up to 40%, it is also beneficial to the environment, which makes this a win-win. During the summer, when the rainwater is reduced, you will simply use a bit more mains water, and then in the winter your rainwater harvesting system will kick in to overdrive.
Landscaping Changes & Irrigation
While ultimately the point of landscaping and gardening is to improve the aesthetics of your commercial site, that doesn’t mean that you can’t be considerate of the water efficiency of your garden. There are numerous factors which contribute to this, including the type of plants you have planted, the bedding and the use of bark or mulch.
If you have a particularly large landscaped area, you may even be using an irrigation system, which can be incredibly wasteful with water, due to poor scheduling or overwatering. You can upgrade to a smart irrigation system, or at the very least review and monitor your current one, to optimise water usage.
Get a Dishwasher
In a shared space like an office building or a warehouse, the kitchen can become a huge source of water waste, scaling with the number of employees who use it. The simple addition of a dishwasher can drastically reduce the amount of water wasted. If every single employee washes their glasses, mugs and plates in the sink, you will very quickly see that increased water bill take effect.
Dishwashers are on average four times more water efficient than hand-washing dishes, so, when you trade a family of four or five into your business’ team of 20+, the savings increase substantially. All you need to do is make sure that your team fill the dishwasher up before it’s used, to make it as efficient as possible, you will immediately cut your water usage down substantially.
Install a Smart Meter
Now, technically, this won’t save you water. However, being able to accurately monitor your water usage and being more aware of your site’s utilities can have a notable benefit. Not only will a Smart Meter allow you to project your bills as the month progresses, it will also help identify shortcomings and improve on them. These opportunities for improvement may simply be behavioural, for example if someone leaves a tap running, but you may also identify that there’s a leak!
Plus, while right now the focus is on water prices, being able to monitor your utilities more closely will also present an opportunity to reduce other costs, which is a nice bonus.
Facilities Management Solutions is the ideal local partner for businesses in Milton Keynes to support them with all their building management requirements. No matter what you require, from minor repairs all the way to a full roof replacement, we will manage your project and make your life easy, thanks to one single point of contact for all your needs.
To find out more about how we can support you with your commercial site, or to take advantage of a free, no-obligation site survey, simply fill out the enquiry form below.
