Business Stream – A Scottish Water Company

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General overview of the company

Business Stream is one of the biggest water suppliers in the UK. The company has over 11 years of experience in the water market, which is longer than any other water retailer. Since the Scottish retail water market opened in 2008 allowing businesses to choose their water supplier, the company has attracted many customers thanks to great quality services and multiple benefits it offers. To date, the company has helped customers save more than £272 million through discounts and water energy efficiencies. Business Stream serves customers like Network Rail, Lloyds Banking Group, Morrisons, Cancer Research UK, as well as thousands of small and medium-sized businesses. Business Stream is a subsidiary of Scottish Water, a company that supplies water to residential customers across Scotland. In January 2019, the company announced the acquisition of Yorkshire Water Business Services. When the process is completed this summer, Business Stream will gain around 140,000 new customers.

What services does Business Stream offer?

The company offers services in two key areas: water management and wastewater management. Business Stream offer has solutions for all kinds of businesses and it aims to help them reduce their water charges, as well as protect the environment.

  1. Water management – the company can assist you with numerous things related to managing your water supply, including:
  • Network connections – if you need a network connection for your new development or a tanker, Business Stream can set it up for you.
  • Specific water supply – if your business needs water of a specific water quality standard, Business Stream can arrange it. The company offers water treatments like purification or demineralisation that can help you get exactly the kind of water supply you require.
  • Implementing water efficiencies – Business Stream will analyse your water usage and advise you on how to save money and be more water efficient.
  • Water-saving devices – the company can install water-saving devices that will help you use less water, and thus spend less money on water bills.
  • Alternative water sources – if you care about the environment, Business Stream can explain to you how to use alternative water sources like rainwater, rivers, canals etc.
  1. Wastewater management – wastewater is the water that exits the property through sinks or toilets and ends up in the sewerage system. Business Stream aims to help customers minimise their wastewater. The company also assists them with:
  2. finding ways to reduce wastewater
  3. building drains and sewers
  4. building wastewater treatment strategy
  5. raising awareness about grey water recycling

Additional areas related to wastewater management that Business Stream specialises in are:

ConsultancyThe company helps businesses find the best solutions for each client and optimise their wastewater treatment systems.
Design and BuildThe company can create new treatment plants or upgrade the existing ones.
Operation and MaintenanceOperators working for Business Stream service, operate and maintain pump stations, boreholes, simple screens, and effluent treatment works.

Is Business Stream green?

The company takes pride in being a responsible business. It launched ‘Making a Positive Difference’ vision and it has helped its customers save over 49 billion litres of water. Over the next few years, it wants to increase this number further and help customers reduce their water usage by 20%.

In 2018, the company partnered with Waterwise, a leading NGO on water efficiency. The company pays a lot of attention to water efficiency and it wants to help customers use water resources wisely and waste as little water as possible.

In addition to that, Business Stream developed a list of business water efficiency tips.

an aspect of your businesshow to save water
taps and sinksquickly replace dripping tapsbuy tap aerators to reduce the flow of your taps and waste less waterinvest in self-closing taps, which will prevent taps from running if you forget to turn them off
toilets and urinalsinstall dual-flush mechanisms to reduce the water used for toilet flushinginstall waterless urinalsget cistern displacement devices, which reduce the volume of water held in the cistern, making people use less water when flushing
kitcheninvest in an eco-boiler that will prevent your employees from over-boiling the kettleinstall water coolers so that less water is wasted waiting for the tap to run cold waterbuy energy-efficient dishwashers
showersinstall push-button controls and timers so that showers turn off automatically after a certain amount of timeuse low-flow heads so that less water is used when people shower

Board of Directors

  1. Dame Susan Rice – Chair

In addition to being Chair of Business Stream, Dame Susan Rice is also Chair of Scottish Water and Chair of the Scottish Fiscal Commission, as well as Non-Executive Director of Sainsbury’s. She has previously served as a non-executive Director of the Bank of England for 7 years, and spent 11 years holding the position of a non-executive Director of SSE.

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  1. Johanna Dow – Chief Executive

Johanna was appointed Chief Executive of Business Stream in October 2014. Prior to that, she served as Finance Director of the company. Her goal is to strengthen the company’s position as one of the leading players in the UK water market. She has contributed to Business Stream securing over £250 million worth of new customer contracts since the English water market opened 4 years ago.

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  1. Stuart Wallace – Non-Executive Director

Stuart joined Business Stream in 2018. He also serves as Chief Operating Officer for Forth Ports Limited, which he joined in 2002. Since then he has servev in several operational roles within the company.

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  1. Jim McDowall – Finance Director

Jim was appointed Finance Director of Business Streak in September 2015. He has experience implementing cost-saving solutions. He previously served in senior positions at companies like Scottish Water, Catalent Pharma Solutions, and Raytheon.

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  1. Douglas McLaren – Chief Operating Officer

Douglas was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Business Streak 2 years ago, in August 2019. He has more than 15 years of experience in the retail utility sector. He is responsible for overseeing Customer Service & Operations, IT & Transformation, as well as People & Development. Before he started working in the energy industry, he was a Chartered Accountant to trade.

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  1. Dr Michelle Hynd – Non-Executive Director

Prior to joining Business Stream, Michelle spent 14 years serving as a Director at SSE. She has held multiple senior positions across the SSE Group. In addition to holding the role of Non-Executive Director of Business Streak, Michelle is also a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee at the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission.

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Financial information

Scottish Water has an annual turnover of around £1 billion. In 2022 they reported a revenue of £629m, leaving them with a gross profit of £57m. In 2021 they reported a revenue of £574m and a gross profit of £50.8m.

Contact information

After you log in to the ‘My Business Stream’ account, you can chat to the company’s team online using their live chat feature. The chat is available Monday to Friday 8 am to 8 pm.

You can also call the company at 0330 123 2000, or 0345 1 24 24 20 if you are a Yorkshire Water Business Services Customer.

For general enquiries, Business Stream recommends filling in their online form.

If you want to talk to the team in person, the company’s head office is located in Edinburgh. The exact location is: 7 Lochside View, Edinburgh EH12 9DH.

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Summary

Business Stream is a UK water retailer that serves over 300,000 UK business customers. It’s one of the largest water retailers in the UK that offers not only great customer service but also has many years of experience in the water industry. Business stream is committed to helping its customers be more energy-efficient and reduce their water bill costs. Over the last 13 years, the company’s customers saved £159.6 million in discount savings, £12.8 million in energy efficiency savings, and £100 million in water efficiency savings. Business Stream also managed to reduce customers’ water consumption by 49 billion, and reduced 83.433 tonnes of CO2 emissions. The company wants to make a positive change in the lives of the communities it serves. Business Stream’s efforts have been recognised by third parties and the company has won 15 National and European customer service awards.