Oxfordshire County Council have 190 sites across England, including schools, libraries and council offices, as well as many more. The council switched to Wave in 2019 with the goal of making it as easy as possible to oversee their water accounts.
The council are always looking for ways to reduce costs by managing their water consumption and reducing it wherever possible. This approach also aligns with their social and sustainability goals, so they need a water retailer with similar values who they can trust to make sure they’re always only using and paying for what they need.
Keeping an eye on consumption
As their water retailer, we provide the council with High Consumption Alerts (HCAs), notifying them if their water usage has risen more than usual. And in January 2023, following a recent meter read, the council received an alert from us saying that their water usage had increased at one of their sites, The Mill Arts Centre. Our HCAs contain information about the site and meter location that the higher consumption occurred at, so the council could investigate straight away, making the process fast and efficient. They also include the potential cost if the increased usage isn’t addressed, which in this case was over £1,000.
Self-service makes life easy
Upon arrival at the Arts Centre, the council shut off the incoming main supply, confirming that there was no underground leak. Following some additional checks, they discovered a urinal cistern on the ground floor that was continuously filling, even when no one was using it. The issue was quickly fixed and consumption returned to normal levels.
With the help of our alert, the council was notified of an issue that could’ve otherwise gone unnoticed and was able to carry out and complete an investigation without needing external help.
Saving water, saving money, saving the environment
Because the urinal was quickly fixed, the council prevented a loss of 390cm3 of water in a highly stressed area for water scarcity. With droughts likely to occur over the summer months it was vital to the council that they were part of the solution, and making sure they were conserving water where possible was the first step.
Jo Edmonds, Utilities Validation Officer (Estates) for Oxfordshire County Council, said: “The High Consumption Alerts have proven an extremely worthwhile service to the council. As described in the case study above, the savings to the Council following these alerts has been a very effective way of preventing an increase in water consumption charges if they had gone unnoticed for any length of time.”
Jen Armes, Customer Service Operations Manager for Wave, said: “The High Consumption Alerts are proving to be a very effective tool in the battle against leaks. Oxfordshire County Council are a fantastic organisation to work alongside as they have a great determination to reduce water wastage.”
Find out more about High Consumption Alerts and how we work with Public Sector organisations.
