Millennium bug preparations for water "cannot be 100% guaranteed"

An OFWAT spokesperson told I-FM today that even though they have received a 'blue' status from Action 2000 they will continue monitoring water companies to ensure there is as little risk of disruption as possible.

The traffic light system from Action 2000 has come under fire recently as London Electricity was also designated 'blue' ,meaning little or no material disruption, and has since encountered millennium related problems.

The independent auditing of the water companies was carried out by OFWAT, Montgomery Watson and Halgrove Gilbert and it is through these findings that Action 2000 awarded their 'blue' status mark.

Today however, OFWAT commented that they could do no more than "follow the Government guidelines that have been laid down and are quite happy with the progress that water companies have made".

They are also advising water companies to go public with their millennium preparations to help increase public confidence that services will continue undisrupted.

Chairman of the OFWAT National Customer Council, Sheila Reiter said today: "Companies need to reassure their customers in telling them about the preparations they have made. No one can guarantee that there will be no disruption. Services could be affected by problems outside the industry's control; and problems may not be just confined to the date change."

OFWAT is 'confident' that the water companies will begin to inform their customers and Sheila Reiter continued : "We believe it would send a positive message and reassuring message to customers if water companies were able to promise unconditionally, that they will pay compensation in accordance with normal rules if services were to be affected."

Julie Crisp