Open-up extra areas to cut business utility bills, increase revenue and boost resilience
Author
Scott MacIndeor, Head of Advanced Services at Water Plus
7 minute read
Smarter water strategies in the engineering and manufacturing sectors can unlock areas for significant savings and ramp-up revenue growth, while strengthening resilience against future water scarcity risks.
And small changes and actions can help meet evolving business challenges, which increased further, from April 2025, with wholesaler price increases for water in Scotland and wholesaler price hikes in parts of England.
Scott MacIndeor, Head of Advanced Services at national business water retailer Water Plus, shares his knowledge and insights to keep companies competitive now – and in the future.
With the increased business costs seen, there’s never been a better time to look to water to drive wider benefits and improve business balance sheets.
As there are carbon emissions linked to all water used by businesses, then finding more ways to save water also helps decarbonisation progress in industry too.
So, dive into this blog to gain the latest know-how.
6 easy steps to take:
1. Get a better grip on what water’s used where
Wholesaler costs make up 90%, on average, of water bills – with the price shooting up in April 2025 in Scotland, for many, which is why looking at how to drive down that part of the bill is so important.
Noting meter readings regularly, at least once a month – if you’re not already tracking this – and providing the reads to your water retailer, is an easy action to take which helps reduce bills based on estimated use.
This helps cost control and forecasting and can be done as part of other regular maintenance checks, if the meter is safe to access. It can also help identify areas where water waste is happening, including leaks.
2. Increased water data helps to locate extra savings
If the water meter isn’t safe to access, or you have multiple sites, then adding extra water tracking technology (sometimes referred to as AMR) is an option.
In fact, manufacturers and other industrial multi-sites are adding data loggers onto water meters in 2025 to gain daily data on water use. The data loggers can also save time, by removing the manual walkaround checks too.
Data loggers, installed through Water Plus and feeding information each day into an online analysis portal, found a 800 litres an hour water saving could be achieved at one of a multi-site’s locations in Scotland.
The increased use was in the middle of the night and the logger’s detailed data and proactive alert from the Water Plus team saw a water loss stopped quickly, preventing further cost increases.
3. Ways to save on Surface Water costs
Site use can change over time, so it’s worth checking whether the area of each of your locations has got smaller.
At Water Plus, we’ve been reviewing Surface Water charges for manufacturers and multi-sites – delivering a £350,000 saving in 2025, after site use changed at one location. The Water Plus Key Account Manager and Key Account Executive helped the customer with the application to the wholesaler and challenged the period the refund on charges was backdated to.
From rainwater harvesting, which has become easier to retro-fit due to modular units, to looking at ways to increase sustainable drainage solutions and systems at sites (known as SuDs), there are a number of different steps that can bring down wholesaler charges.
Payback times for investment can be shorter too, particularly since wholesaler price increase for water in April 2025.
4. Power energy savings, with water actions
Small, low-cost water efficiency devices installed at one of a multi-site’s locations, in 2025, has delivered a 42.5% water saving and reduced hot water use, which means an energy saving too.*
An estimated £13.4k saving in wholesaler charges, is estimated across 12 months, from the devices installed through Water Plus.
Water-saving technology can include tap aerators or water efficient taps, including sensor taps, that can all reduce the amount of water needed, flush-saving devices, urinal management and flow controllers.
It shows the significant boost small actions can deliver for utility costs at locations – and reducing water demand on networks, through water efficiencies, helps keep supplies flowing for everyone.
Using heated water multiple times, in manufacturing and at other businesses, can also be a great way of reducing consumption and cost. While a bigger initial cost may be involved, the reduction in other costs and increased efficiencies can quickly give a return on investment.
Improving monitoring for areas of additional water use and encouraging staff to report leaks to main contacts at your business, all helps quicker reactions and reducing business risks.
This year, a manufacturer’s site and two other sites in Scotland have had leaks identified by services provided through Water Plus. Data loggers on water meters showed these resulted in 4m3 an hour in water loss (4,000 litres of water an hour) overall, across the sites.
The amount of water would fill 16,000 cups of tea, each holding 250ml each. Site visits are being organised to stop the additional water use.
A leak on a water pipe at a site could cause water to stop flowing, which would impact revenue and your customers’ experiences.
5. Tap into Trade Effluent opportunities
A £170,000 a-year cost saving has been seen in 2025 for a manufacturer, which had improved its trade effluent processes and treatment at one of its largest sites. It lowered the unit cost set by the wholesaler for the area.
A Water Plus Key Account Manager provided the help and support the manufacturer needed with the application process, which delivered this large year, on year saving.
Businesses are also working with Water Plus around re-purposing some of their Trade Effluent to explore new revenue streams.
The Water Plus team can deliver process audits and work with businesses to review trade effluent approaches to find more ways to drive efficiencies and can help challenge wholesale charges for trade effluent, where there’s been improvements to treatment and processes at businesses.
6. Get in touch with our experienced, knowledgeable and multi-award-winning team
Water Plus is a UK Customer Satisfaction Award winner in 2025 and the largest water retailer for businesses in the UK, providing a comprehensive range of services for more than 700,000 customer supply points across Scotland and in England. It has an office location in Scotland and one in England and a team working with sites across Scotland.
Key Account Managers at Water Plus also regularly visit customers, from multi-sites, to large industrial sector sites, to review how they’re using water and help them implement bespoke water management and contingency plans, for if water supply was to stop suddenly at a site, alongside showing them how to boost trade effluent efficiencies.
To partner with Water Plus for your business water retail services, email: hello@water-plus.co.uk .
For technical water services including process audits, water audits and water efficiency installations and additional water tracking technology, contact: advancedservices@water-plus.co.uk and see: water-plus.co.uk/better-ways-with-water.
* 42.5% water saving, on average daily use, tracked by a data logger, between February and March 2025.
More about Water Plus and the blog author:
Water Plus services include billing and customer service, account management, meter reading, leak detection, additional water tracking and analysis technology and water saving site reviews and water efficiency device installation.
We truly believe in putting our customers first and are here to support you through every step of your water management and water-saving journey.
And we’re a Water Industry Awards Finalist in 2025, for Water Efficiency Project of the Year, for our work with businesses in Scotland and England.
Scott MacIndeor is Head of Advanced Services at business water retailer Water Plus with more than 26 years of technical experience in water and wastewater management, efficiency and reducing waste to reach organisations’ sustainability goals. Scott and his Advanced Services team have delivered water efficiency, water audit and data logger projects at-scale, in 2025, 2024 and 2023, helping sites cut costs in Scotland and England.
