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utILIty WEEK | 16th - 22nd January 2015 | 5 WatEr More than 120,000 homes across northern Scotland had to be reconnected after severe weather battered northern and western Scotland last Thursday, cutting off power. Wind speeds reached more than 110mph, damaging the electricity network and affecting customers mainly in rural areas such as Dingwall and Wick. Engineers at SSE's subsidiary Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution (SHEPD) were assisted by an additional 200 workers brought in from its sister company Southern Electric Power Distribution in England to reconnect customers – battling high winds, rain, sleet, snow, lightning and freezing temperatures to do so. Unions reject NI Water pay deal 'outright' "I also seek your reassurance that any cost savings will be passed on to customers at the earliest opportunity" Scottish energy minister Fergus Ewing joins calls from chancellor George Osborne and Labour leader Ed Miliband for energy companies to pass on cost savings Photo: PA The Combined Heat and Power Association (CHPA) is changing its name to the Association for Decen- tralised Energy on 20 January to better reflect the interests of the group's members and its "significant role" in the decentralised sector. The association said energy produced at or near the point of final use was emerging as an increasing- ly important means of ensuring security of supply. The association's director, Tim Rotheray, said: "The way we generate and use our energy is in the midst of a significant transition, away from a central- ised system and towards a decentralised one that puts control in the hands of users." Members span decentralised technology options including combined heat and power, district heating and cooling, and demand-side energy services. Name change for CHPA Trade unions have rejected propos- als by Northern Ireland Water (NI Water) designed to end the ongoing industrial action over pensions. The offer was "rejected out- right" on Friday by members of the three trade unions that make up the Water Group of Trade Unions – GMB, Unite and Nipsa. GMB regional officer Alan Perry told Utility Week the union members rejected the pay offer because there was "no guarantee" from the Government of Northern Ireland Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP) on the new pay settlement. Perry added: "If they were to say we will do a, b, c, and d – and if that was put to our members – they probably would accept it. But the difficulty is the DFP won't come out and say that and that's where we're at because our members cannot live on false promises at the moment." More than 1,000 members of the trade unions started industrial action on 22 December because of changes to the pension scheme, which the GMB claims will cost members up to £100 per month. The action was escalated on 7 January when the union members agreed to pull out of a goodwill arrangement that was struck between the parties over the festive and New Year period. NI Water said the latest offer contained "a number of other initiatives" such as increased holi- day entitlement, a removal of the cap on overtime, and increases in on-call allowances. (see p27) £1 each Financial penalty imposed by Ofgem on Saltend Cogeneration Company and deeside Power (uK), now part of GdF Suez Energy International, for failure to meet CESP targets DEsCENDINg PrIOrItIEs Consumer Managing demand Demand response Local production Central production