Nottingham City Council has made a bid to supply its own water in a move which it says should result in lower bills.
The council already has its own energy company Robin Hood Energy, and also has plans for its own social care company and a debt collection firm.
Now it wants to supply water to its own operational sites, and the communal areas of Nottingham City Homes (NCH) properties.
This would be a total of 241 properties - but would not include NCH houses themselves. Severn Trent Water Limited would remain the supplier for these.
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Councillor Sally Longford, Portfolio Holder for Energy and Environment at the council, said: “Becoming a water self-supplier is an exciting next step for us as we seek to further reduce costs through innovative resource efficiency across our own estate.
"Since the regulation changes in the water sector last year we’ve watched the uptake of water self-supply with interest. Other large organisations such as Blackpool Council and Greene King have taken advantage of the new regulations, and water self-supply is creating substantial savings for them.
“As a large consumer of water we are looking forward to having more control over this vital resource and will be looking for ways to use water more efficiently to lower costs and improve our environmental performance.
"We can streamline the service, cut out the margin that goes to others in the supply chain and plough the savings back into further resource efficiency projects.”
Following changes in the water industry which were introduced in April 2017, most businesses and organisations in England are now able to choose where they get their water from.
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In 2016-17 the council spent £869,000 on water and waste water services.
It believes it will save about ten per cent a year on water bills by buying it wholesale from Severn Trent Water.
On March 4 it made an application to Ofwat for a self-supply water and sewerage licence. Under this licence it would not be able to supply water to other businesses or households.
The cost of registration as a water supplier is £25,000.
Anyone who wants to make a representation about the licence bid should contact Ofwat by March 29.
The council says it is hoping to be in a position to begin self-supply operations in the early summer of this year. The self-supply operation will be run by the council’s Energy Services.
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