A fire brigade in the South of England switched to Wave in 2018. As part of our public sector offering, organisations have a dedicated Account Manager, so our Account Manager, Beverley, worked closely with the fire brigade’s Energy Officer. She supported them across their portfolio of more than 100 sites, looking for ways to reduce consumption, cut waste and save costs.
Working together
Following the switch to Wave, the fire brigade’s Energy Officer raised a query with Beverley around the transfer of one of their accounts. After further investigation, the site in question was found to have a fire hydrant which was only being used for training purposes.
The Water Industry Act 1991 says that water companies should not charge for water used for firefighting, fire training or testing fire equipment. Yet despite this, they had been paying the wholesaler £10.50 per day for water at the training facility.
The Energy Officer took the time to investigate and collated evidence for us that helped support a review into their charges which we took up with the wholesaler.
Dedicated account management
As part of our account management service, we’ll contact the 22 wholesalers on the customer’s behalf if there’s an issue.
Account Manager, Beverley – alongside our Wholesale Liaison team – got in touch with the wholesaler to challenge why the training site was being charged.
When the wholesaler reviewed the evidence the fire brigade presented, it was agreed that the tariffs for this site should be reduced and the charges for wastewater would be cancelled.
Account Manager, Beverley Cripps, commented, “The Energy Officer queried the charges and provided full details on the site which enabled us to challenge the Wholesaler and make savings. This showed engagement from the customer and was supported by their vast knowledge of their site portfolio. A good example of customer and Account Manager relations”.
Saving the fire brigade money
Once the correct tariffs were applied, the fire brigade was able to avoid a cost of over £9,000. The fire brigade continues to work closely with their dedicated Account Manager to monitor water use across their sites and look at ways to become more efficient.
