Edinburgh-based water retailer Business Stream has been awarded a contract with an annual spend of up to £10 million through the Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) Water, Wastewater and Ancillary Services framework, which it successfully secured a place on earlier this year.

The contract will enable Business Stream to provide water and wastewater services, including leak detection, automated reading and water efficiency solutions to a wide range of public sector organisations in England.

James Cardwell-Moore, Commercial Director at Business Stream, commented: “We were very pleased to secure a place on the framework and are absolutely delighted to have won one of the first contracts issued. We have a vast amount of experience in working with the public sector and are looking forward to the opportunity of providing our unparalleled expertise and extensive service offerings to new organisations in the sector.”

Sam Ulyatt, Strategic Category Commercial Director for Crown Commercial Service, said: “In April we brought the largest public sector water framework agreement to the UK market. The agreement will eventually support the public sector to save £20M on its water bill, leveraging the buying power of the public sector to support the delivery of efficient and effective public services.”

Earlier this year, CCS joined forces with YPO, The Energy Consortium, ESPO, NEPO, West Mercia Energy and the MoD to bring the largest public sector water framework agreement to the UK market.

CCS enables the public sector to achieve maximum commercial value when procuring common goods and services.  Central government, schools, colleges, universities, museums, housing associations, councils, the emergency services and NHS Trusts are all included in the framework.

Scotland’s non-domestic market, which covers all premises across private and public sector organisations, opened to competition in April 2008. Since then Business Stream customers have saved more than £160 million on their water bills and conserved 24 billion litres of water. Last year, the company acquired the non-household customer base of Southern Water, increasing its foothold in England.

Business Stream is the largest operator in the Scottish non-domestic water market. Its most recent profit before tax was £21.8 million from revenue of £281 million. Headquartered in Edinburgh, it also has offices in Glasgow and Worthing, and employs around 350 staff.

Business Stream acquired the non-household customer base of Southern Water in preparation for the English retail water market, which opened in April 2017. The acquisition doubled Business Stream’s customer base overnight, making it one of the largest retail water suppliers in the UK.

Formed in 2006, the company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Scottish Water with its own board and independent management team.