aquarecoup

How it works

Four steps, one signature, six years of bills checked.

We do the audit. We write the supplier. You sign one form. If anything comes back, we take 30%. If nothing does, you owe nothing.

01

Send us a recent bill

One quarterly invoice is enough to start. PDF, photo, or screenshot. We use it to identify your supplier, meter reference, and current tariff.

~3 minutes
02

We audit six years of charges

We pull six years of billing history from your supplier (with your authorisation, one form). Then we go line by line: surface water drainage, estimated reads, trade effluent tiers, standing charges, VAT. We come back with what we found, and what each line is worth, before anything gets submitted.

2–3 weeks
03

We submit the claim

If there's a case, we write the supplier and submit the claim on your behalf. We handle the back-and-forth, including any pushback.

4–12 weeks
04

Refund lands in your account

Suppliers refund directly to you. Once it's in, we invoice 30% of what was recovered. If nothing was recovered, no invoice.

60–90 days

What we read

Every line on the bill, checked against your site.

Most lines check out, and that is the point. Where a charge does not match what is actually on the ground, that is a claim. Here is what we read on every bill.

Meter readings, actual against estimated
Tariffs and rates
Standing charges
Surface water drainage area
Trade effluent tier and strength
VAT treatment
Billing periods and gaps
Meter and SPID details
Consumption history

Of these, the four we most often recover on are surface water drainage, estimated reads, trade effluent classification, and VAT or standing charges. If you have a meter and a few years of bills, the audit runs the same way, whatever the sector.

What a rebase looks like

Supplier estimate180 m³
Actual read150 m³

When a site's use has fallen, estimates keep climbing from old figures, so we rebase to the real read and recover the gap. When use has grown, estimates can undercharge, so we screen on the call before we press a claim.

What we actually look for

The audit checklist, in plain English.

Surface water drainage

Most common single finding

Charged on the roof and hard-standing area of your site. If that water drains to soakaways, fields, ponds, or any non-sewer route, the charge doesn't apply. We pull aerial imagery, drainage drawings, and on-site checks if needed.

Estimated meter reads

Common

Suppliers default to estimates when they can't get a read. Estimates compound, sometimes for years. Where a site has reduced consumption, estimates overstate and we recover the gap. About one in five non-household meters in the market is classed as Long Unread.

Trade effluent classification

Hospitality & manufacturing

Trade effluent tiers band by chemical oxygen demand, biological oxygen demand, and total volume. Kitchens, laundries, and light industrial often sit one tier too high. Independent COD/BOD testing typically pays for itself when reclassification follows.

VAT and standing charges

Multi-site sites

Disconnected meters that still attract standing charges. VAT applied to qualifying activities (education, charities, partial business use) where it shouldn't be. Quietly cumulative: small per-quarter, large over six years.

What you do

Two things, total.

  1. 1Send us one recent water invoice.
  2. 2Sign one authorisation form so we can request billing history.

What we do

Everything else.

  • Pull six years of billing history
  • Cross-check every charge line by line
  • Verify drainage maps and site drawings
  • Write and submit the claim
  • Handle supplier queries and pushback
  • Invoice 30% only if something comes back

Typical timeline

Send billWe audit (2–3 wks)Claim submittedRefund (60–90 days)

Worth three minutes to find out.

Drop a bill in, and we'll come back with an indicative number. Nothing to sign at this stage.