London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham achieves a 54% annual cost saving

The London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham has a portfolio of over 105 water meters, consuming approximately 174,000m3 at a cost of £355,409 per annum. With a strong desire to maintain its status as “the low tax borough”, recent rises in utility bills have led to a focus on minimising costs.

The Challenge

LASER collects the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham’s water bills on a quarterly basis directly from the water supplier before the data is analysed by our Energy Bureau System. Whilst collecting records of historic billing, the system highlighted a water invoice at South Park Pavilion in Hammersmith was being over-charged. The site was being billed at a higher 100mm meter rate, when our records suggested there was only an 80mm meter on site.

The Solution

LASER reported the problem straight to the water supplier, leading to a meter reader being sent to site to locate the meter in question. On inspection, the meter was found to be recorded at the wrong size on their database. Further investigation by LASER identified this to be a long standing issue which had not been recognised by the previous energy bureau provider. Therefore LASER was able to correct the water company’s billing and negotiated a six year back-dated rebate for the borough.

The Result

LASER’s investigation and action led to a £6,178 cheque being raised for the Borough. In addition, the correction to the water supplier’s on-going billing system is predicted to save the site 54% on their annual water bill. Similar meter errors have subsequently been found at a number of other sites within the jurisdiction of other local authorities, we are currently working with them to resolve this.

The Key Benefits Delivered & Statistics

• Expert knowledge – LASER’s Data Analysts navigated through complex water tariffs and meter charges, which vary from one water supplier to another, to find a large water meter billing error at South Park Pavilion, Hammersmith.
• Cost Recovery – A refund of £6,178 was paid back to Hammersmith & Fulham, due to being over-charged by the water supplier at this site for the past five years.
• Ongoing cost savings – With the meter error rectified, the site will see annual cost savings of 54% (the site’s water bill was reduced from £2,267 to £1,235 per annum.)
• Zero disruption – LASER handled the whole process from identifying the error, amending the billing and raising a credit whilst bringing only negligible additional workload to the customer.

 

Refund of £6,179
Refund backdated over 5 years
54% Annual Cost Saving
Refunded with 8 weeks