In case you all missed it, there was an excellent story about the San Fran power failure in the San Francisco Examiner Sunday. The power wasn't the only thing that failed- so did the contingency plans:

"I'm very disappointed," said Julian Ajello, supervisor of the Northern Californian Safety Division of the PUC. "I've been hearing about these contingency plans for years. This is the first time they've been tested. I don't know why they didn't work."

The whole story is at:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1998/12/13/NEWS2691.dtl

I'm going to post it on our site later tonight, but thought I'd drop it off here too. It is a very interesting story, on the various components of the blackout. Worth reading.

Drew Parkhill/CBN News

-- Anonymous, December 14, 1998

Answers

Besides the various oversight agencies which are going to be bombarding PG&E, demanding answers, a short paragraph near the end of this article speaks volumes:

"The blackout is expected to cost the utility millions of dollars in consumer claims. So far, about 3,300 claim applications have been requested."

Six hours of blackout equals millions of dollars in legal claims. Can anyone doubt the reason why all utilities (not to mention other corporate businesses) are claiming they are exercising "due diligence to be Y2K ready"? In their situation I'd be having lawyers write my Y2K press releases and SEC 10Q's, too. And I'd say as little as possible. Even though it upsets me that accurate information on Year 2000 progress is so hard to come by, the reluctance to inform is understandable.

It's not only the U.S. which has legal implication hazards surrounding Y2K fixes. Another article recently mentioned liabilities creating a major problem in New Zealand:

"The United MP Peter Dunne says plans to make Public Sector groups Y2K compliant are on the point of collapse.

He says some large consulting firms have pulled out, and theres difficulty in attracting computer specialists to the job of ensuring that computers with in-built clocks wont fail when the Year 2000 clicks round. This is because the specialists cant get liability insurance if theyre sued in the event that their Y2K work is unsuccessful.

Peter Dunne says the consequence could be failures across the state sector."

-- Anonymous, December 14, 1998

Well phrased, Bonnie. I quoted you when I posted the SF story on our site.

http://www.cbn.org/y2k/insights.asp?file=981215d.htm

Drew Parkhill/CBN News

-- Anonymous, December 15, 1998