Please bear with me, I am asking a question that is way beyond me, but I really want to know about it.

I read some articles on the Cassandra Site that relate how some electric companies in New Zealand and Great Britain have tested their local power suppliers by pushing ahead the clock, so to speak, and watching what happens when the clock reaches 1/1/00.

What happens is that a few seconds after midnight 1/1/00 in this created scenario, the power fails and everyone is with out power.

Could someone explain this to me? Did they really shut the power off for all their customers during this "test"?

They got the power back on and resumed business as usual. If so, why can't they just set the clock back permanently?

I understand that there is a whole series of suppliers, buyers etc., involved before the actual electricity gets to my home. So am I correct in saying that just because my local power company has all the y2k bugs worked out of their system, that doesn't mean that I will have electricity in 2000?

Mainly I want to know how those tests were performed, and why did they think they were a good indicator of future problems?

Thank you, Sylvia

-- Anonymous, June 05, 1998