Across the country, garden retailers are starting to receive bills from their water supplier for the 2022/23 financial year and are facing significant increases in rates.
On the 1 of April 2022, Ofwat, the water regulator, has introduced a one-off increase in supplier default rates. The move by Ofwat is designed to protect the water industry from the effects of COVID-19 related bad debt and to avoid supplier failures that have plagued the business energy market.
Not only are businesses being hit by the one-off increase, the underlying wholesale cost of water is also increasing in most regions. The effect of population growth and climate change makes maintaining the water network ever more expensive, a cost that is being passed on to businesses and households everywhere.
Why should garden centres worry about water rates?
More than most businesses, garden centres need a reliable supply of potable water. It’s estimated that garden centres around the country use 20 million cubic metres of water each year to irrigate plants.
Business water rates are charged on a volumetric basis. Every unit cubic metres of water measured by your water meter comes at a cost. Water is a significant overhead to garden retailers but can be controlled with a few easy steps.
What can I do about increasing water rates?
The market for non-household water has just reached its fifth birthday following deregulation. However, business decision-makers generally don’t spend much time thinking about water, and most have never considered switching suppliers.
Following the price hike, garden centres can now save thousands with a simple switch away from default business water rates. See how much your garden centre can save today with the AquaSwitch compare business water suppliers service.
