Northumbrian Water has gone out to tender with an AMP7 contract for domestic water saving audits worth an estimated £2.3 million.

The Northumbrian Water Group has set itself challenging targets to achieve real and quantifiable water savings through its water efficiency strategy in order to reach a long-term goal of 118 litres per person per day by 2040 and a 5.3% reduction between 2020 and 2025.

The water company’s Every Drop Counts multi award winning water saving visit project has been a key component of its water efficiency strategy.

The tried and tested approach successfully combines the provision and fitting of water saving products in customer's homes with effective engagement with each customer. This approach has proven to deliver long-term behaviour change. Through the campaign NWL has engaged with more than 18,200 households in eight towns since 2016.

Northumbrian Water is now seeking contractors to tender for services to deliver the next iteration of Every Drop Counts to customers across its Northern, Essex and Suffolk supply areas for the rest of AMP7 period . The contract will run for an initial period of 15 month period ( This includes a 12 month project delivery period and a 3 month buffer period where any remedial or outstanding work can be completed), extendable for a year on an annual basis, for three years to 2025.

The services to be provided must include the following:

• Inbound and outbound call handling
• Arranging appointments
• Organise/plan technician routes/diaries around appointments •Organise/facilitate the transfer, storage and monitoring of stock
• Gaining an understanding of customers, who they are and how/why/when water is used the way it is
• Engaging with customer through relevant behavioural change messaging, making the interaction personal and tailored to the customer
• Delivery and installation of suitable water saving interventions, taking flow measurements, and substituting alternative products where appropriate as part of the visit

The water company is now looking to take a new approach – NWL says it has considered what is meant by 'average PCC' and looked at how it can maximise the impact of its water saving projects to achieve higher, more sustained savings.

NWL said it has now determined through a deep dive into existing data:

• 'Average' PCC doesn't really exist
• Upon analysis, it's clear that the 'mean' PCC does not reflect the majority of our customers
• The is a significant number of customers who are using considerable amounts of water
• The highest users in fact drag the average (mean) PCC number up (away from the mode)
• There is a larger capacity for water savings in the highest users

Taking the findings into account, NWL said it would now like to approach Every Drop Counts differently, targeting the Top 5% of its customers based on their consumption.

The water company said that while elements of this project would require some technical ability, it is now looking to shift the emphasis into the behavioural change arena:

“Everything we know about delivering successful water efficiency programs tells us that effective customer engagement is absolutely fundamental to delivering sustainable behaviour change and achieving water savings.”

Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate is 27 July 2021 – click here to access the tender documentation.