House of Fraser has switched a further eight of its stores in England to Business Stream for water services. The move follows Business Stream’s successful partnership at three of the retailer’s flagship stores which were transferred in June last year.

Branches in Gateshead, Guildford, High Wycombe, Huddersfield, London (Baker Street), Milton Keynes, Plymouth and Wolverhampton are now being supplied by Business Stream, one of the UK’s largest non-domestic water retailers.

The arrangement includes wider support on water management across the whole of the House of Fraser estate to help the company understand its water usage and improve efficiency - House of Fraser has 59 locations across the UK and Ireland. Business Stream has also carried out a validation exercise to ensure the accuracy of historic water billing for all of the organisation’s sites across England.

Dr. Dorothy Maxwell, Head of Sustainability at House of Fraser said:

“Business Stream’s support and expertise in water saving, recycling, auditing and leak protection is helping us to become even more efficient. This supports our wider sustainability ambitions, which are extremely important to us, and provides greater value to our business. We look forward to the benefits seen in our flagship stores being extended to the further eight that they will support.”

As part of its partnership approach, Business Stream has been installing automated meter readers (AMRs) into stores across their English estate. This follows the successful AMR deployment at House of Fraser stores in Edinburgh and Glasgow. AMR technology automatically measures water consumption every 15 minutes, allowing for more accurate billing and the easier identification of problems such as leaks.

Jo Dow, CEO at Business Stream said:

“We’re delighted that our partnership has been extended following the successful implementation of a range of water efficiency measures designed to support House of Fraser’s ambitious sustainability goals. It is very positive news as we gear up to welcome more new customers when the English water market fully opens for competition next year. We are very confident that we can reduce water usage and the associated costs for other businesses as we have done for House of Fraser and many of our other customers across the UK.”

Currently only sites which consume more than five million litres of water annually are eligible to switch suppliers in England, but there will be full competition in the non-domestic English water market from April 2017.

In June, Business Stream announced that it was buying the non-domestic customer base of Southern Water, which will create the third biggest player in the Anglo-Scottish market. The firm continues to play a key role in the development of the English market and has been an active participant in the UK Government’s consultations on the subject.

Business Stream, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Scottish Water with its own board and independent management team, is currently the largest operator in the Scottish non-domestic water market. Its most recent profit before tax was £31 million from revenue of £320 million. Headquartered in Edinburgh, it also has an office in Glasgow, and employs around 250 staff.

In June 2016 Business Stream announced it was buying the non-domestic customer base of Southern Water. The acquisition will see it become the third biggest provider in the Anglo-Scottish market with an 11% market share and is expected to create around 40 new jobs. The deal will formally take effect from 1 April 2017 when the English market fully opens for competition.