Business water for offices

A professional services firm we work with occupies four offices across London and the Thames Valley. After the shift to hybrid working in 2021, occupancy across all four sites dropped to around 40% of pre-pandemic levels. The water bills didn’t move. Standing charges kept running. Estimated reads kept landing. Nobody had ever told the wholesaler that headcount-in-the-office had halved.

Office water tends to be welfare-led: toilets, hand wash basins, kitchens and water dispensers. Consumption is modest per site. That makes it easy to ignore, and that’s precisely why it tends to drift further from market.

This page covers how we help UK office occupiers review their water arrangements. The mechanics of switching are in our main business water switching guide. Our business water service covers the open UK market across every commercial sector.

How we help office occupiers

We start with the bill stack and the meter list. For multi-site occupiers this isn’t usually consolidated. From there we work through the retail margin, the standing charge structure, any meter sizing that looks out of step with actual consumption, and surface water drainage assessments for sites with car parking.

For sites where occupancy has materially changed since the contract was set, the actual usage may now be much lower than the contract was structured for. A smaller meter or a renegotiated tariff can produce a meaningful annual saving.

Why office water bills are different from other commercial accounts

Hybrid working and what changed on the bill

For offices where headcount-in-the-building is materially lower than it was in 2019, the water bill probably hasn’t kept up. Standing charges run regardless of usage. Consumption may have dropped, but if the meter is on estimated reads, the bill might not yet reflect it.

We’ll flag any meter that’s been on estimated reads for more than two cycles and work with the wholesaler to get actual readings taken. If actual usage is genuinely lower, smaller meters or revised contract terms can be worth pursuing.

Multi-site office portfolios

Professional services firms, serviced office operators, and public sector offices often run portfolios that have grown over time. Each new site was contracted whenever it opened. The result is a spread of retailers, renewal dates and contract terms.

Consolidation onto a single retailer with one renewal cycle is usually the right move. The unit rate matters, but the administrative time recovered is often the larger gain.

How an office water review works