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UTILITY Week 15th May 2015

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UTILITY WEEK | 15TH - 21ST MAY 2015 | 5 Affinity Water teamed up with Dutch 3D street artist Leon Keer to help promote water efficiency. Keer's canyon illusion was drawn on the streets of Hemel Hempstead last week and Affinity Water gave out advice and free water-saving devices to passers-by. Affinity Water asset engineer Haroon Atif said: "The street painting was a unique way to engage with residents on the importance of saving water and gave us a real opportunity to get our message across." "When I was out canvassing today I had a man say to me: 'You'll be fine, Ed.' I wish I had a vote for all the people who told me I'd be fine" Former energy secretary Ed Davey lost his seat as MP for Kingston and Surbiton "Closing the skills and knowledge gap facing the industry is a crucial task" Nuclear Institute chief executive John Warden on a deal to close the nuclear skills gap in the UK Last week, following a complaint from Labour peer David Lipsey, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) inves- tigated an advertisement by Greenpeace claiming that "experts agree" that shale gas extraction in the UK would not "cut our energy bills". Aer consideration, the ASA ruled that the advert "must not appear in its current form". When asked to provide proof of an expert consensus, Greenpeace sent quotes from 22 sources. However, the advert was still found to be in breach of standards because it presented the argument as settled, despite only a minor- ity of quotes decisively stating that fracking would not reduce the cost of energy bills. The ASA said: "We told Greenpeace to ensure they did not use claims that misleadingly implied their views were universally accepted if a significant division of informed opinion existed." ASA rules against Greenpeace anti-fracking advertisement CCWater could defer market opening The Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) would postpone the opening of the non-domestic water market if it believed the system was not ready to go live. Speaking exclusively to Utility Week, CCWater chairman Alan Lovell said that if customers were set to lose out because of unre- solved problems by the scheduled April 2017 go-live date, he would try to push it back until all the issues had been worked out. "It would surprise me if it came to this, but one can envisage the circumstance when we felt there was potential disadvantage to other customers and we would defer it." He added that "there should be time to put any issues right" as the sector has the best part of two years until the non-domestic mar- ket opens to retail competition. CCWater still expects the mar- ket to open in April 2017, but only if "all of the players involved work to make sure it happens on time". WATER 15 years Sweden's Vattenfall has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement for wind power from Banks Renewables

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