Excellent 5* RatingBusiness Water Meters Guide
Your business water meters measure the amount of clean water entering your premises, which means they’re hugely important in making sure you’re billed accurately. The data your meter provides ensures that your water charges reflect your actual consumption, not estimates based on property sizes or historical consumption.
However, if you’re already busy with your day-to-day duties, or the overall running of your business, you may not have had the time before now to give your water meters too much attention – which raises the possibility that you could be paying too much for water.
At The Business Water Shop, we’re committed to helping you optimise your water usage, helping you to save on costs, reduce waste, and simplify all associated billing, planning, and administration. Your business water meters play a crucial role in that – so here’s everything you need to know.
Why are business water meters so important?
Water meters essentially act as a control point for tracking and managing your consumption. Metered billing gives you detailed data on your actual usage – as opposed to flat-rate billing, which doesn’t provide you with any data, but simply presents you with a fixed amount to pay regularly. This detailed data can be vital in helping you to monitor patterns and spot problems, such as billing discrepancies.
For growing businesses, or those with unpredictable usage, that kind of precision is particularly useful for controlling budgets and avoiding unexpected costs. (Common examples of these sorts of businesses include organisations working in the manufacturing or hospitality sectors, or multi-tenant properties.)
In most cases, water meters are installed by default on commercial premises in England and Scotland. However, if your business isn’t metered, it may still be possible to have one fitted.
How do suppliers use water meters to calculate your charges?
Suppliers calculate your charges based on two key criteria – the volume of water supplied, and the estimated amount of wastewater returned. Both are calculated using your meter readings, with charges set per cubic metre. This means that you pay a set rate for each, and the more you use, the more you’re charged.
This system covers the cost of delivering clean water to your site, and removing used water as “wastewater”. However, it’s worth noting that most suppliers assume all water used ends up as wastewater, but that might not necessarily be the case.
If your operations use water in processes like cleaning, cooling or irrigation, then some of it may not actually return to the sewer system. In these cases, it might be worth asking your supplier about reclaiming a portion of your wastewater charge. Alternatively, you might choose to arrange a business water audit to determine your actual discharge rate. This can potentially unlock more suitable billing, and maybe even lower costs.
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Where to find your business water meter
Most business water meters are housed in underground chambers near the property boundary. You might spot them in footpaths, car parks, or landscaped areas. In more complex commercial sites, or multi-unit buildings, they may be inside a plant room or mounted on a visible water supply pipe.
If you manage multiple units, or you share premises with other businesses, then obviously you’ll need to take the time to confirm that the meter you’re checking does indeed relate to your specific supply point. You can use the serial number from your bill to identify the correct device, and avoid confusion with nearby meters. If anything seems unclear, or if no meter is obvious, you can normally ask your supplier to give you a helping hand with identifying it.
How often should I take a meter reading?
We would generally recommend recording readings regularly, ideally at the same time each month. This is really useful in helping to build a clear picture of your usage over time, and providing a reliable record if you ever need to identify an issue, or dispute a bill. Some businesses keep a usage log as part of their broader facilities tracking, which is especially helpful for sites with variable usage throughout the year, such as hospitality venues with seasonal fluctuations.
Just as a reminder, when you’re taking a reading, make sure to make a note only of the figures in black, as these are the only ones required for billing purposes. You don’t need the ones in red.
Can my business request a water meter installation?
Yes. If your premises aren’t currently metered, and your bills are based mostly or entirely on estimates, you can contact your supplier to ask for a water meter to be fitted. They may carry out an assessment to see if there are any major obstacles that might make it difficult to install one, such as certain pipe layouts or access restrictions.
In many cases, it can be arranged without issue, especially for commercial sites in England or Scotland. Some suppliers provide free installations, whereas others may charge a fee depending on the work required.
It’s worth noting that installation costs are generally fairly negligible, whereas business water meters have the potential to help you make significant savings on your water bill.
Why do we need business water readings when we’re comparing suppliers for you?
In a nutshell, precise meter readings are more useful for showing exactly how much water your business uses, and that enables suppliers to give you more accurate, tailored quotes. (Otherwise, quotes would be based on rough estimates or industry averages, which may significantly vary from your actual demand and consumption patterns.)
When we have accurate meter readings, we can provide you with better prices, as well as a billing structure that matches the requirements of your organisation, so you can enjoy easier admin, and more efficient long-term financial planning.
Why choose The Business Water Shop?
With a wealth of industry experience and a UK-wide network of water suppliers, here at The Business Water Shop we’ve always been focused on doing everything we can to make life simpler and easier for you. We know that there’s a lot to get to grips with when it comes to business water, so you can always rely on our team to support you with in-depth expertise, tailored advice, and a flawless supplier comparison service.
If you’re just starting out with establishing the details of your current situation, we can also help with a detailed business water audit that’s designed to identify the nuances of your current usage and ongoing requirements.
