AWC is a water charges billing specialist who since the late 1990’s have had the liability of the water supplies for many properties in the London, Bristol & Yorkshire areas.
During the 1980’s the Government at that particular time denoted that it would be fairer for all commercial premises to be metered individually meaning that every commercial premises would be able to have their own metered bill. It was at this time that Water Companies began the Compulsory Metering project which meant every business premises had to be surveyed for suitability. In simplistic terms this meant that if you had your own toilets, kitchen sink, hot water and heating you may have been eligible to have your own individual water meter fitted.
In many cases, premises were not suitable for their own meter. Possible reasons for this are below. The list however, is not exhaustive:
• Multi occupied properties with shared tank water - meaning that the water main comes in and feeds a water tank which is then shared between all occupiers of the premises.
• Multi occupied properties who share hot water
• Multi occupied properties with shared facilities
In premises that were not eligible for their own individual meter a Compulsory Metering – or Bulk Metering project was designed to try to persuade the landlord/agent/third party to take over the liability of the communal water supply and collect charges either through a service charge or other means. Many landlords and agents accepted this liability, some however, did not. In cases where they did not, a third party such as AWC intervened. An agreement was then drawn up between AWC and the relevant Water Company, this Agreement is known as a Common Billing Agreement (CBA for short).
AWC have managed a number of premises since 1985, the majority since 1996.