Are your customers ready for winter?

Insulate pipes, water tanks and taps

Your customers can protect their pipes and water tank, if they have one, by insulating (or lagging) to help keep them warm. This means there’s less chance of them freezing or bursting, helping to save water and money on costly repairs. Insulating material and tap covers are readily available from most DIY and hardware shops.

Insulate exposed water pipes in your loft and outside. You can use felt, pipe wrap or other insulating material and cover any outside pipe or fitting with a waterproof material.

Toilet cisterns, water tanks or pipes in exposed places and unheated outbuildings could cause problems. Make sure they're insulated or ideally, drained during the winter.

If you have an outside tap, insulate it too.

Fix any leaky taps and clear gutters of leaves

Make sure your customers get any dripping taps fixed – even a small trickle can lead to a frozen pipe.

Non-household properties and businesses should also keep their drains and gutters clear of leaves to help prevent blockages, leaks and damage to walls and roofs.

Keep heating at a low temperature

We know that heating non-household properties and businesses can be expensive for your customers, but so is a burst pipe. Leaving the heating at a low temperature over winter can help to prevent pipes from freezing. Some systems even have a handy frost setting too.

If your property is going to be empty for a long time, you might want to speak to a plumber about turning off your water supply and draining down the system.

If you're going away for a short time, it's a good idea to programme your heating to come on at a low temperature (some systems have a frost setting). If possible, ask someone nearby to pop-in to your premises and check everything’s OK.

If it’s very cold outside leave central heating on a low setting overnight.

Make sure your boiler's been recently serviced to ensure it is running effectively.

Reduce draughts by closing the doors and windows to parts of your property that aren't heated.

Prepare for emergencies and find your stop taps

Make sure your customers know where their inside and outside stop taps are just in case they need to turn the water off quickly if their pipes do freeze and burst.

Check that your external and internal stop taps are working so you'll be able to turn off your water supply in an emergency.

Put a contingency plan in place in the event of an emergency.

Ensure the most up-to-date emergency contact details are available to your retailer. These may be used by us should we have an emergency on our network, and we need to keep you informed directly.

Make your customers non-household property or business more energy efficient

• Make sure the boiler’s been recently serviced (within the last 12 months) so it’s working safely
• Bleed the radiators to release any trapped air to keep them running efficiently, which can help to lower energy bills