Affinity Water News. See inside. A new era in water management PAGE 5. Finding and fixing leaks PAGE 7. Get your business ready for winter PAGE 8

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1 Affinity Water News Keeping you in touch with your local water supplier December 2013 Issue 3 See inside A new era in water management PAGE 5 Finding and fixing leaks PAGE 7 Get your business ready for winter PAGE 8 Formerly known as Veolia Water

2 Our Customer Promise At Affinity Water we are driven by our passion to deliver the best possible service to our customers. We want to use our knowledge and expertise to support your business and make things quick and easy for you. We aim to: Provide a service that you can trust Supplying your business with water that is safe, reliable and of the highest quality. Actively listen to you Being approachable and easily contactable through your preferred means of communication Building a relationship with you showing that we are putting your needs first. Understand your unique needs Providing services and solutions that are specific to you Ensuring that you are on the most cost effective tariff, so that you are receiving a value for money service. Support your business Providing you with the correct information and giving you a quick and efficient response Taking ownership of any queries you may have, making sure that you are happy with the outcome. Excel as a customer focused company Engaging with you for valued feedback to improve our services Ensuring that services are customer orientated and easy to understand. Minimise disruption to your business Swiftly carrying out repairs and quickly responding to reported issues with our water supply network. New faces in your Business Relationship Team Nick Ross Business Relationship Advisor As a new advisor I support business customers that are suffering with operational issues. We understand that continuity of supply is important to your business and we aim to put you at ease and serve you until the issue is resolved. Andrew Bamber Business Relationship Advisor I bring a wealth of experience to this new role having worked in the hotel industry for the early part of my career then moving into the water industry 17 years ago. Since then I have worked with utility companies and service providers covering operations, leakage and scheduling whilst always focusing on the needs of the customer. 2 Affinity Water News Bernard Bradshaw Business Relationship Advisor When joining the Business Relationship Team my goal was to provide a first-class service to businesses by listening to our customers unique needs. I thrive on providing a service that customers can trust, being approachable and taking ownership of account queries.

3 Welcome Welcome to the third edition of Affinity Water News, the newsletter designed to help you get the most from your local water company. In this edition, you can read about tips to help you save water, find out more about the new people in your dedicated Business Relationship Team and information on some of our customers that have benefited from our services. This newsletter is at the heart of our mission to support your business in your community. For example, you can learn about how we installed Automatic Meter Readers at St Margaret s School and the benefits it brought them on page 5 and how to prepare your pipes for the winter on page 8. We are here to connect with you and your business on the understanding that each organisation has unique needs. We understand that a customised approach is vital for delivering a ground-breaking performance in customer service. This newsletter is one way in which we want to display our knowledge and expertise to support your network requirements and make things quick and easy. It is this passion that is being used to shape how we serve our business customers now and in the future. We have spent much of this year listening to you in order to fully understand your requirements. The Business Relationship Team is now focused upon delivering tailored services for our business customers. The second edition of the newsletter demonstrated that our customers are eager to build a relationship with us. If there is a colleague that would benefit from receiving this newsletter, whether they work inside or outside of your business, please provide us with their contact details using the address below. We are keen to hear from you. If you have any questions or suggestions for this newsletter, please contact us at commercial.central@affinitywater.co.uk or feel free to tweet us at It gives me great pleasure to wish you a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year for you and your business. Contents Our Customer Promise 2 New faces in your Business Relationship Team 2 Welcome 3 Pleased to meet you Adam White 4 A new era in water management 5 Affinity Water help solve Chartridge Hotel s water issues 6 Water resources update 7 Finding and fixing leaks 7 Get your business ready for winter 8 Contact us 8 Vincent Muldoon Director of Customer Relations and Business Services Give us feedback on for a chance to win a free AMR and one Call Rider 100, including installation. Terms and conditions apply, please see online for details. Affinity Water News 3

4 Pleased to meet you: Adam White Principal Customer Account Manager What is your job role at Affinity Water? I am a Principal Customer Account Manager responsible for all customers within the public sector. Working with this sector allows me to interact with various organisations including councils, local authorities and government services including healthcare, education, and public and emergency services. What do you enjoy most about your role? I thrive on building relationships with customers and being their single point of contact, answering their queries whether they are billing, operational or quality related. Being proactive and quick to respond allows me to add value to our customers organisations. I aim to find savings that could be made on customers water bills through understanding how they use water to create efficiencies and check that they are on the most cost effective tariffs. How do you believe your past experience helps you within your current role? I ve had the opportunity to work with people from many different cultures and countries. This has enabled me to truly understand what it means to be people orientated and is the basis for how I conduct myself when working with the public sector. I understand that the public sector has varied needs and I am able to tailor my approach to provide bespoke solutions. I am passionate about customer service and believe that my personalised approach helps to develop the proactive relationship I have with our customers. Can you give an example of how advice you have given has led to cost savings for a customer? A personal highlight this month has been assisting a school in St Albans. They were concerned by an unexplained rise in their water consumption, so I arranged a meeting at their site to discuss the reasons why this may have occurred. Within two days we located a leak on site and fixed it allowing the school to continue with its daily routine. The leak was not visible to the eye but was losing the school 1,600 litres of water an hour, which is on average 434 a week of wasted water consumption. Our quick response saved the school from wasting water and possible long term damage to their site. We are now working with the school on how installing automatic meter readers and replacing the existing network will reduce risk and help them become more water efficient. In your experience, what are common problems that most public sector organisations face? When first interacting with our customers it s apparent that they are not sure who to trust and are not aware that we are keen to meet with them to provide our support. Sustainability is at the heart of the public sector s goals, promoting economic growth whilst protecting the environment and improving quality of life. We can provide free advice on how companies can monitor their consumption and create efficiencies. With the use of our automatic meter readers, it is now possible to monitor the water on business premises, see how sites are performing and find out where businesses can make efficiency savings, which helps to reduce energy usage and their carbon footprint, as well as reduce their bills. If you d like to meet with Adam or another member of our Business Relationship Team to see how Affinity Water can help to save time, money and water at your organisation please call us on or us at commercial.central@affinitywater.co.uk 4 Affinity Water News

5 A new era in water management St Margaret s School gains control over water usage through automatic meter reading and detailed data analysis. The Affinity Water Business Relationship Team approached St Margaret s School in Bushey to assist with their water efficiency goals. St Margaret s School is a large independent boarding school for girls, which was founded in The school boasts a combination of historic buildings and modern facilities on a 74 acre site in rural Hertfordshire. As such, the school presented some unique challenges and a member of Affinity Water s Business Relationship Team met with the school s Bursar, Ken Young to gain a detailed understanding of how Affinity Water could support them. A tailored water efficiency solution was created that was in alignment with the school s sustainability goals, which enabled the school to gain more control over its water usage. Three automatic meter readers were recommended and installed on the largest three meters on the school s site. Through using the 24/7 online portal, St Margaret s have been able to have full visibility of their water consumption, which has allowed the school to proactively track trends in their usage and establish where savings could be made. Full support was provided by Affinity Water, giving the school an in-depth analysis of the data gathered. When paired with the user friendly online systems available, the school has gained a much greater understanding of water consumption on their site. This awareness of trends in water usage has given the school the scope for taking on a targeted water efficiency strategy and a valuable working relationship between the school and Affinity Water has been built. Ken Young, Bursar of St Margaret s School said: Unlike most other cost reduction initiatives, it was the supplier, Affinity Water that drove this project forward. We easily built an excellent relationship and the outcome has been startling. We now know how much water we use, when and where. As a result, we can now detect and repair leaks when they occur which has helped towards our money saving and efficiency goals. I also greatly appreciate the constant monitoring by Affinity Water at times when I need to do other tasks. To meet with a member of our Business Relationship Team or to discuss how we can help you to get in control of your water usage please visit or call on Affinity Water News 5

6 Business Relationship Team solve hotel water problems A quick and customer focused solution to operational issues at Chartridge Lodge Hotel. Affinity Water was contacted by the Chartridge Lodge Hotel and Conference Centre, Chesham in September about an incident which required urgent attention in order for the business to keep operating normally. The Affinity Water Business Relationship Team visited the hotel where they found some serious pressure issues and at times, no water. Stephen Quigley, General Manager of the Chartridge Lodge Hotel said: I found the service from Affinity Water to be first class. They identified and resolved our issue quickly. I found the whole team to be efficient and friendly. The hotel was originally a private house built in the 1900s, giving it a beautiful setting but on occasion, an unpredictable water network. A rapid solution to the suspected leak was required in order to keep the business functioning and to cater for some large upcoming bookings. The Business Relationship Team moved quickly to fully investigate the issue. Principal Customer Manager, Jenny McKeown contacted the Chartridge Lodge Hotel to offer advice and a tailored solution to get the business up and running again and arrange for leakage detection technicians to be on site the next day. The Leak Detection Service quickly identified a buried private stop tap as the root cause of the issues at the hotel. The stop tap was not fully operational and had caused an air lock within the water network, as well as a blockage, which was preventing the hotel s header tanks from filling. Following the repair of the stop tap, an internal inspection of the sentinel taps and a mains purge, the problems were resolved and water pressure was fully restored to the hotel. The excavation required was quickly re-filled and the overall quick turnaround allowed the hotel to go back to business as usual during a particularly busy period. Contact us Non-water episodes can occur for all kinds of reasons and the problem is they can happen at any time causing stress, loss of business revenue and on occasions leaking water can cause extensive damage. To meet with a member of our Business Relationship Team or your Principal Account Manager to discuss how we can help you to be prepared for water supply emergencies on your site, please visit or call on Affinity Water News

7 Water resources update Groundwater levels continue to remain above average for this time of year due to the exceptional rainfall from 2012/13. October produced over 160% of long term average rainfall and there are signs that recharge of underground water sources is slowing the natural rate of decline from the summer months. Provided this region receives at least average rainfall through to April 2014, resource availability and river flows should remain at or above average, which will mean little chance of restrictions in summer Affinity Water Business Plan published The Affinity Water Business Plan for has now been published and is available to view at The Business Plan is subject to approval by water industry regulator Ofwat and will announce the outcome of its review by January Finding and fixing leaks Leaks have the potential to seriously harm your business operations. It is vital that leaks are identified and dealt with swiftly to mitigate an increase in bills and damage to your premises. Finding and fixing leaks will reduce your consumption, lower your bills and reassure you that your pipes and networks are secure. There are a number of things which may indicate that you have a leak: If you have an unexplained rise in your water consumption or bills If you have a meter and the dials are still turning/spinning when you have turned off the water and ensured every tap and valve is off If you hear water hissing or the sound of running water (like a tank or toilet cistern filling), when there is no water being used Long-term drops in water pressure. Our Principal Customer Account Managers are here to offer you their expertise and quick, high quality solutions. We understand you need your site to get back to normal as soon as possible and we are here to support you through this process. To make things quick and easy for you, we use the latest technology to find and fix leaks, leaving your organisation to go about its daily activities. As a preventative measure, our Principal Account Managers can discuss fitting automatic meter readers to alert you when your water consumption is irregular, providing you with meter readings every 15 minutes online with ease. To discuss what the Business Relationship Team can do to support you in preventing, finding and fixing leaks, please contact us on or us at commercial.central@affinitywater.co.uk Affinity Water News 7

8 Protect your pipes this winter With cold weather approaching, Affinity Water is urging customers to check that water pipes within business premises and grounds are properly insulated to avoid disruptions. Burst pipes can be disastrous for businesses and interrupt productivity. However, this can be easily avoided by insulating exposed pipework. To prevent burst pipes: Insulate exposed water pipes with felt, pipe wrap or other insulating material and cover any outside pipe or fitting with a waterproof material Make sure your cold water tank is insulated If you have an outside tap, insulate it too Check where your stop tap is to isolate your water supply and make sure it works Leave central heating on a frost protection setting overnight If you are planning on leaving your business unattended for a long period, turn off the water supply. Dealing with frozen pipes If pipes do freeze, turn off the stop tap to shut off the water supply. Slowly thaw the pipes with a hair dryer or a towel soaked in hot water. Start thawing the pipe near where it enters the premises. Never use a naked flame or blowtorch to thaw a pipe. How to get in touch Website: Using the following link will take you direct to information for Business Customers commercial.central@affinitywater.co.uk Telephone: (your call may be recorded for training or monitoring purposes) All billing enquiries (including moving premises): Mon-Fri 8am to 6pm, Sat 8am to 2pm Translation service on request Operational enquiries (water supply, quality and emergencies): Mon-Fri 7am to 8pm Emergency service operates outside these hours Automated debit/credit card line (24 hour hotline): Leakspotter line: Next edition out March 2014 Dealing with burst pipes If a pipe bursts, turn off the stop tap, leave an internal tap on to allow thawed water to escape and contact an Affinity Water Business Relationship Advisor on Useful information on how to lag pipes and dealing with frozen pipes can be found on the Affinity Water website at Post: Affinity Water Ltd, Tamblin Way, Hatfield, Herts AL10 9EZ Sewerage emergencies and general enquiries: Check your bill or check online for your sewerage provider. Anglian Water: Thames Water: Useful websites Consumer Council for Water Anglian Water Thames Water To receive this leaflet in large print, audio or braille, please call Give us feedback on for a chance to win a free AMR and one Call Rider 100, including installation. Terms and conditions apply, please see online for details.