Wave is a national water retailer working with business clients of all sizes to help them benefit from the open water market in England.
Wave helps businesses track and manage their water use, offering support and guidance on how to maximize efficiency and identify where potential savings can be made.
Working with businesses across a range of sectors, including retail, leisure, transport and manufacturing, Wave’s highly experienced teams have decades of experience supporting SME, public sector, large and multi-site organizations across all sectors. Whether it’s water, wastewater or trade effluent services, Wave’s team of in-house experts can support a wide range of businesses, whatever their needs.
Wave was formed as a joint venture between Anglian Water and Northumbrian Water following the deregulation of the non-domestic water market in April 2017, meaning businesses, charities and public sector organizations were no longer tied to a single regional supplier for all their water services. Wave was initially created to support all businesses in the Anglian Water and Northumbrian Water regions with their billing, meter reading, customer service and water efficiency needs and to compete nationally for new business.
Now seven years in business, Wave is the third largest retailer in the non-domestic water (NHH) market, supporting more than 300,000 businesses. The company currently employs over 324 people across its Durham and Peterborough offices, with 41 new hires in the last year alone. Wave has established itself as a key player in the industry with an excellent reputation for its customer focus, social value and culture of well-being.
What is the main problem you solve for customers?
Wave’s goal is to make water supply as simple as possible for companies, as it should be. Businesses should know exactly what price they are paying, easily understand their bills and have their meters read regularly. The tasks associated with providing all of this are generally not high on people’s radars, however, if customers need to interact with us, we also want to make it as efficient as possible.
What we aim for is to be the most customer-centric service company, prioritizing the delivery of value and efficiency and having a low cost of service but also excellent customer service. The importance we place on customer experience really sets us apart and means we have a very loyal customer base.
What are your brand values?
Wave’s values are “put the customer first”, “succeed together”, “be accountable” and “embrace learning”, which all form the foundation of what we do here. As a company we are as open and honest as possible and we trust our people, so from day one they will be encouraged to be responsible and take responsibility. This is key to helping our people grow and succeed in their roles, which in turn improves our customers’ experience.
Do your values define your decision making?
The values of our brand, together with ours Social and sustainability promise, are responsible for the decisions we make and the direction we choose to take the company. Since its formation in 2017, I have always wanted Wave to act, do and be different. Focus not only on standard business drivers like profit, but also drive positive change within the industry and the broader communities where our customers and employees live.
Our Social and Sustainability Promise outlines Wave’s ambition and commitment to making a positive difference to our society and the environment, whilst aligning with key UN sustainability goals.
Is team culture an integral part of your business?
We have always sought to shape our culture to bring out the best in people, building a culture of feedback and trust with wellbeing at its heart. This year I was extremely proud to see our efforts recognized at the Employee Experience Awards, with a Gold Award for our health and wellbeing strategy.
Our culture is driven by an employee-led approach, with many of our wellbeing benefits, groups and tools suggested by our people. We also have a representative from all areas of the business on our active internal health, safety and wellbeing forum and a waiting list of people looking to join.
We constantly strive to provide a high level of support to our team. Our goal is to ensure that our employees’ work experience is a positive one, where they feel comfortable bringing themselves to work and have the support and tools they need to succeed in their roles.
Does technology play a much bigger role in the day-to-day running of your business?
Technological advances play a huge role in the evolution of our practices and allow us to provide a better experience for our clients. We are investing in our online journey, making our online account quicker and easier to use and using new platforms to support all our customers with their high consumption alerts. This allows us to help companies become more sustainable and identify potential cost savings.
At Wave we focus on data quality, automation and digitalization and aim to reduce the level of repetitive tasks through automation and accurate data. New technology allows us to digitize and streamline more of our business, as demonstrated by our e-invoicing option, which reduces the demand for paper invoicing, providing a better experience for our customers and supporting our sustainability goals.
What is your company’s ecological strategy?
A key focus of our business is our Social and Sustainability Promise, which commits us to achieving net zero by 2030 and saving 9.4 million m3 of water by the end of the current business planning period of 2026. Many people and companies don’t realize how scarce water is. We want to help businesses use water as efficiently as possible, for example by issuing high usage alerts or, for some of our larger clients, encouraging them to view water as a strategic resource and developing strategies and processes to help them operate More efficiently. This is something I believe all companies will need to focus on more in the future.
Do you have any advice for someone starting a business?
If you work in utilities you need to be happy to focus on data and processes – it’s an important skill across many industries but particularly within utilities.
There’s also a quote from Richard Branson that’s good to keep in mind when you’re starting out: “If someone offers you a really amazing opportunity, say yes and learn to do it later.” I love this attitude because there are a lot of opportunities at Wave, giving people the ability to make secondments and move between teams. Gone are the days when people stayed in the same role or activity forever. You can move into a new role and hone your skills by trying different things until you find something you’re passionate about and enjoy doing.