While there are thousands of properties not paying for water which causes millions of revenue going down the drain, the upside is that there are 3 proven ways to stop it.
Why the money flows out of your pocket?
The top contributing factors to the problem of revenue loss in the water market are inaccurate occupancy data, intermittent meter reads or long unread meters. These issues are big for water retailers as well as for the wholesalers for two main reasons. For starters, water retailers have to pay the wholesaler but they don’t know who to bill in turn. Secondly, the wholesalers may be charging less than they should be, hence losing revenue.
The good news is that there are practical and proven ways to resolve the problems.
One of the solutions available in the market for water suppliers is to use a company specialist in data tracing and management, such as Occutrace, to step in and help. Our dedicated team members are on a mission to resolve data inaccuracies within the utilities sector and beyond. Learn some specific ways to protect your money and improve compliance in the water sector and how Occutrace can help.
1. Identifying Occupancy in Vacant Sites
335,000 companies are registered each and every year.
231,000 cease to trade in the same year.
New businesses are not legally bound to register with their water supplier. They are potential customers draining your resources. At Occutrace we can offer a blended approach of desktop and field work to give our water retail customers the irrefutable evidence they require to successfully onboard, bill and retain those new non-household customers.
Let’s take a working example. Occutrace agent visits a High Street and they arrive at a row of shops. They open the app to view the shop names. A butcher has turned into a charity shop, and a hardware store is now a national chain of shoe stores. To reflect that change, the agent takes pictures, enters each shop’s contact info, then taps to upload. This process takes minutes and has just saved you lost revenue and costly collections.
Once the new data is uploaded, the Occutrace quality control team pick up the baton, verifying the change and sending you an update so you can send a water bill to the new shop owners.
2. Key Customer Cyclical Reads
At times standard cyclical read doesn’t fit your customer and it may happen for various reasons: it may require an appointment setting, two-men lift could be required or it could be a difficult customer who just need a little bit of handholding. Regardless of the reason, Occutrace are flexible enough to meet the needs of your key customers, ensuring those cyclic reads are making it to the market on time every time.
You should care about getting key customer cyclical reads for several reasons such as:
– When standard cyclical reads have failed in the past.
– Help win tender process.
– Provide better service.
– Avoid financial / performance penalties from MOSL.
Getting the right reads is an essential part of being able to ensure no money or time is wasted.
3. Resolving Long Unread Meters
No one is fond of estimated billing – neither water companies, nor their non-household customers. On average, only 85% of meters are read during cyclical meter reads, according to the MOSL data. Out of the 15% those others are unable to find OccuTrace reach more than 85% of them. Even then, you will only be charged for the LUMs we resolve with no fees for the unresolved SPIDs.
The key benefits of resolving long unreads include:
– Increased compliance leading to improved reputational peer comparison.
– Speed of cash. Accurate customer billing leading to better customer retention and greater propensity to pay.
– Increased customer satisfaction.
As an agile specialist data collection company, Occutrace are delivering in-depth & actionable outcomes within the NHH water sector, and beyond. Now is the time to get in touch with us to book a FREE demo with the team.
Let’s act together so we can stop throwing millions of revenue down the drain.