Breaking Waves

We’re committed to supporting the Public Sector and we’re delighted that we’ve recently won a new framework agreement with YPO, a publicly owned central purchasing body.

The framework, which went live on the 1st of September, means we’ll continue to be YPO members’ direct supplier for water, wastewater and ancillary services.

This contract win recognises the work we’ve done with our social and sustainability commitments as we’re passionate about building long term, engaging and sustainable partnerships, supporting our customers in becoming more water-efficient, encouraging organisations to take better control over their water usage and in turn minimising water related costs.

“This win is a key milestone for Wave as it consolidates our position with the customers currently on the YPO Framework and provides a significant opportunity for future growth.”

At Wave, we want to support schools and students and help them to see water as a precious resource. We’ve created a dedicated online page specifically for schools to give teachers, pupils and families careers advice, eco challenges and interview tips.

The resources vary from videos for careers lessons showing a range of roles within Wave and the skills that are used in these roles, to water-saving worksheets designed to encourage children to think about how they can save water. We’ve also worked face-to-face within schools providing careers sessions that cover CV writing, interview advice and how to search for jobs.

Visit our schools resources page

On Thursday 16th November, Wave and public sector procurement specialist, North East Procurement Organisation (NEPO), jointly planted 300 trees in Stamfordham, Northumberland.

The day was led by the Great Northumberland Forest, a tree planting scheme hosted by Northumberland County Council, which focusses on planting the right tree in the right place, for the right reason, with the right management, balancing the needs of nature and the rural economy with the interests of people, communities, landowners, and land managers.

The team was made up of 25 employees from Wave, NEPO, Northumberland County Council and North Tyneside Council who worked together to create a shelter belt of native species trees and large shrubs, as a wildlife corridor and to support biodiversity and amenity.

Despite the wet conditions, spirits remained high and it was rewarding to see how many trees could be planted in just one day. With Great Northumberland Forest’s guidance, the team learned the best places to position the trees, which areas to avoid and how to dig and plant correctly so that they had the best chance of survival.

Joanne from NEPO, said the event was: “really well organised and a great introduction to what Wave’s social focus is” and Margaret from Northumberland County Council, said: “very well organised, a really lovely crowd of people which made the day. Weather was fine, which helped and a fantastic programme to support.”

For information on our upcoming events, please speak to your account manager.

Your business uses water whether it’s for drinking or it’s part of your operations. A leak, burst pipe or an interruption could mean having to close, so it’s worth preparing your premises ready for the colder weather.

Here’s some of our top tips so you can have peace of mind over the winter months:

• Check for leaks – you can do this yourself with a simple leak and flow test.
• Keep emergency contacts to hand – it’s good to know your wholesaler’s contact details, as well as a trusted plumber.
• Read your meter – reading your meter regularly means it’s easier to spot when something isn’t quite right, like an unexpected increase in your usage.
• Lag your pipes – this will prevent heat loss and stop them from freezing.
• Turn off your water – if you’re closing for a while over the festive period, it’s worth considering turning off your stopcock and draining your water system so that there’s no water running through the meter.

Have you got a plan in place?

Although wholesalers work hard to keep water flowing as the temperature drops, if a disruption happens, it’s usually your responsibility to find an alternative water supply.

A contingency plan takes away unnecessary stress and will make sure you can keep your business running.

We want to make managing your water as easy as possible, so we’ve made some changes to our online portal, My Account.

When you log in, you’ll be able to see your accounts which now have a coloured indicator ribbon representing the financial health of the account. There’s also a quick action tab underneath each account so you can easily use some of the most common features like submit a meter read or make a payment.

To save you time and effort, we’ve upgraded our search function too, giving you the option to search by account name, customer reference number, meter serial number, address or Supply Point Identifier (SPID).

For step-by-step video guides on how to use some of the features on My Account, visit our YouTube channel.