UNITED Utilities, Winsford and Middlewich's leading provider of water, electricity, gas and telephone services, is working with small businesses in a battle against the millennium bug.

It has taken the lead in supporting small and medium-sized enterprises to beat the bug by being the first major private sector concern in the region to sign Pledge 2000, a six-point action plan under which large companies formally commit to taking positive action to assist their suppliers in dealing with the year 2000 problem. It calls for firms to:

Tackle the bug and ensure business continuity.

Share information on bug projects.

Help users of products and services to overcome their bug problems and give them access to information.

Keep shared bug data confidential.

Work with supply chain partners.

Solve the problem rather than take legal action.

United Utilities' Martin Bradbury said: "Our customers can be assured we are doing everything possible to ensure continuity of supply into the millennium."

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