There has to be adequate protection for customers and businesses.""Big Brother? We wish it was," said a Vertex spokesman (light-heartedly, of course) "The council tax business is very competitive Our firm is not just about billing, anyway. We are providing a wide range of services, such as training."When Norweb and North West Water joined forces, the water company, which has 2.7 million domestic customers, promised not to cut off users of one utility for not paying bills to the other. Norweb also supplies him with gas - and plans to provide telephony services at a later date. Now all these bills will come from Vertex, with his council tax bill likely to follow.He said: "People are concerned about Big Brother, that one large organisation can provide all these services They are really going to run your life. "Your whole life is going to be run by one computer owned by one private monopoly," warned Anthony Goldstone, chairman of the water industry watchdog Ofwat's north-west customer services committee. "The danger is, you have a dispute about your water bill, you become a credit risk, and everybody else gets to know about it.

You are in effect on a blacklist."Mr Goldstone has personal reasons for his anxiety. President-elect of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he has many bills to pay. But unlike the rest of us, most of the cheques are ultimately made out to just one company.His family-owned leisurewear business in north Manchester gets its electricity from Norweb and its water from North West Water. BIG BROTHER edges closer. Britain's first "super utility" - the firm that runs both water and electricity in the North-west - is bidding to take over handling council tax bills as well. United Utilities, formed last year by the pounds 1.83bn takeover of Norweb, the electricity supplier, by North West Water, was the centre of one huge row last week when it announced 2,500 job losses.

It will be involved in another from tomorrow when it launches a subsidiary, Vertex, which, besides handling all United's billing, will bid for lucrative council tax contracts being put out to tender by increasingly cash-strapped local authorities. Many of the job losses were a direct result of merging the billing, metering and administration systems of North West Water and Norweb into Vertex after the merger.The proposal that one company should have access to so much information about people's debts has alarmed consumer groups and civil liberties organisations. "There is a national shortage of organic fillets, sirloins and rumps," he said. "People just can't seem to get enough organic meat."Off the hook, page 12Inside story, page 17. Calls from people wanting to know where to buy organic food have reached "unprecedented levels".Tim Finney, the manager of an organic farm, says organic steaks have "flown out of the window" with the demand for organically farmed meat. BSE seems to have tipped the balance for many people."The Soil Association is the body responsible for promoting and controlling organic farming in the UK This makes up about 0.3 per cent of the farmable land area. According to Mr Holden, people are concerned about UK agricultural practices as a whole.He says: "There is the widespread belief now that something has gone fundamentally wrong in British farming. The idea that we can overcome nature by science is just not feasible anymore and people are looking to more organic and natural solutions."Mr Holden says some farmers may convert to organic farming practices.

"I have worked here for 10 years and I have never seen anything like it. "They don't know who to trust so they turn to organisations like ours for cool, level-headed advice."A lot of people are concerned about gelatine and beef products. Most are surprised to learn, for example, that onion soup, chicken gravy granules and chocolate ice-cream all contain some kind of beef stock, animal fat or gelatine."The Vegetarian Society expects membership to increase from fewer than 200 new members a month to about 450, with starter packs being sent out at a rate of almost 200 per day.For Patrick Holden of the Soil Association this is the revolution it has been waiting for: "It is absolutely amazing," he says. Steve Connor of the Vegetarian Society says that enquiry levels have doubled in the past two weeks with calls from meat-eaters who have decided to try a vegetarian diet. Mr Connor has also received calls from beef farmers wanting some vegetarian recipes."People have had enough," he says. We're thinking of expanding our vegan titles as many people are worried about dairy products too."BSE has created a stir at Waterstone's in Harrods too, where staff have doubled the shelves of vegetarian books for first-time buyers. Robert Kinnear, manager of Waterstone's in Glasgow, says: "People up here are not reacting in quite the same way.

There is a perception that Scottish beef is safer, so we haven't seen such a dramatic increase in sales."But general interest in vegetarianism has shot up. General manager Gordon Seabright said: "This promotion couldn't have been better timed; we thought the market was topping out. Now we're selling lots of tried-and- trusted recipes by Rose Elliott and Cranks to customers new to this kind of cooking."While English branches of Dillons and Books Etc are also seeing higher demand, bookshops north of the border, however, seem little affected. "In the past couple of weeks we've had to give a lot of advice to customers concerned about meat."Normally, those who come in for vegetarian cookbooks know what they want, but we've had loads of people asking us to recommend simple guides.