While the water market was deregulated in 2017 - meaning businesses could choose their own supplier - it was hoped it would herald a new era of consumer choice and increased switching
However, in the four years since, that era has failed to materialise, with many SMEs still being unaware of their rights – and the benefits. Furthermore, while environmental matters top the news agendas most days, many businesses are still unaware of the part water plays in this, Josh Gill, founder and CEO of Everflow Water, explains the top four things businesses still need to know about their water supply.
I set up Everflow in 2015 as an ethical water retailer, with the vision of making things simple for customers, especially for our target market of SMEs. And while we’ve certainly succeeded in that – winning a bronze award for Best Customer Experience at the 2021 UK Business Awards – there is still a long way to go when it comes to raising many SMEs awareness of their water supply. Market choice The key things that many SMEs are unaware of is their ability to switch supplier at all; the narrative surrounding swapping utilities is still heavily weighted in favour of gas and electric. The most recent Ofwat/CCW non-household customer insight survey found that: “As in the second year of the market, larger customers were more active than smaller customers; around a quarter (26%) of large customers had switched, renegotiated, or had considered switching or renegotiating in the last 12 months, compared to eight per cent of micro-businesses.”
Meanwhile, Ofwat’s annual state of the market report for 2019-20 also highlights that “smaller customers…continue to be less aware of and less active in the market”. Raising awareness has been one of my key goals from the beginning, as, at the time of deregulation, the messaging was very much focused on the big corporates, while the vast majority of the market was being ignored. The benefits of switching It’s true, water historically has lower margins, which means there is a misconception that there are no great cost savings to be had from switching.
However, customers regularly tell us that they have made significant savings by switching to us – an average of £150 a year. And beyond cost, other benefits include more flexibility and improved customer service. At Everflow for example, our average call waiting time is just 0.5 minutes and our annual complaint rate is just 0.18 per cent; it’s no wonder, then, that we have a customer satisfaction score of 84% and a Trustpilot score of 4.5. How the industry is set up We may sell our customers their water, but we don’t actually supply it – that’s the job of the wholesaler. Wholesalers look after the network of pipes, reservoirs and treatment works to ensure that businesses get the clean water they need, and that wastewater is removed and treated. Burst pipes? Blocked sewers? Installing water meters? All the responsibility of the wholesaler. Retailers, meanwhile, issue the bills and collect payment for water and/or wastewater services, as well as managing customer queries, including those relating to wholesalers, such as leakage claims or meter requests. Retailers are also responsible for obtaining meter readings and supplying them into the market’s central database, as well as using them to formulate bills.
Going green Another thing many businesses are unaware of is quite how much water is wasted, and why this is a matter for everyone. As the fastest growing water supplier to nonhousehold customers, water efficiency matters to Everflow. We care about the long-term sustainability of the water supply, and about helping our customers keep their costs down. However, many company owners are unaware of how to measure their water efficiency, so, in order to help them, we created an easy-to-use checklist to use on their site to give a quick overview. It’s not exhaustive, of course, but it’s just one of the ways we’re urging all of our customers to think about their impact on the planet. Making water simple for SMEs has been Everflow’s goal since day one, and raising awareness of facets of the market they don’t understand is just part of that.
