To the public the NERC says they are on schedule, giving every reassurance the electricity will stay on. From the Jan. 11, 1999 NERC report to the United States Department of Energy

ftp://ftp.nerc.com/pub/sys/all_updl/docs/y2k/secondfinalreporttodoe.pdf

in the executive summary, we read the following: "...transition through critical Year 2000 (Y2k) rollover dates is expected to have minimal impact on electric system operations in North America...."

And yet during a February 2-3 1999 Workshop

http://www.nerc.com/~y2k/y2kworkshop0299.html

the NERC discusses "Length of potential outages....", "Customer[s] need [this information] so they know what to plan for...", and "Make sure local government understand the actual risk to electric infrastructure..." And providing information on "the safe use of generators" to local government.

What is going on? Either the NERC is concealing vital information from the United States Department of Energy, (and the rest of us), or the situation has changed dramatically between Jan. 11, 1999 and Feb. 2-3, 1999.

Further search in the Power Point presentations of that workshop we come across a slide that poses this question; "Release NERC Status Reports?" and the following bulletted points; -Upon request to Commercial & Industrial customers (with confidentiality in some cases), regulators upon request with some confidentiality. "

Read that last line again; "Upon request to... regulators with some confidentiality."

How does that work? Who is regulating who? This is a slide presentation to members of NERC and the electric utilities and to me it sounds incredible that they would indicate they have the power to regulate what information is released to regulators. (I hope whoever made up that slide can explain this. I think there will be room on this forum for any good explaination, but please, let the originator of the slide, or an NERC rep do it.)

A third possibility exists here, which is that both statements are true. The situation, (or the NERC's perception of it), has changed dramatically *and* they are concealing vital information, (either from the DOE, the rest of us, or both).

While the utilities are currently increasing lobbying efforts in Washington to seek relief from Y2K litigation that hasn't even begun the NERC is actively concealing vital information that you and I might need to protect our lives, our homes and our businesses in the middle of the next coming winter.

Right now lobbyists are trying to minimize lawyers fees, keeping them to a $1,000.00 per hour limit and the lawyers are balking. The fight for the tall dollars over this is just beginning in Washington while throughout the country families are arguing among themselves and splintering into factions over whether or not they should be preparing for shortages and outages.

A year ago families and friends argued over whether or not the President lied. This year it's the Y2K issue. If we have to take this case to the Grand Jury to find out what the truth is we'd better do it fast! This issue could turn out to be a mere embarassment, (whether we've over or under prepared for example), but make no mistake; it is very much capable of causing each of us significant personal harm.

Steve

-- Anonymous, February 12, 1999

Answers

"Every bureaucracy is inevitably made up entirely of people inadequate to their tasks." - Laurence J. Peter

Maybe this is our problem.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 1999

Excellent post! If this is happening in the utility industry (which it is), then just think of that 'Great Beaurocracy' the federal government. God help us all.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 1999

Steve,

Could you be more specific about your quote:

<>

I don't have access to power point presentations, and in reviewing the link I haven't a clue as to where to find the quote. Can you post more of the paragraph from which this quote was taken as well as the person who made it and in what session? Sounds like it came from someone planning a public communications strategy.

Thanks much!

(Still tryin' to figure out where my utility stands. 'Not having much luck.)

-- Anonymous, February 13, 1999

Steve,

Bonehead alert. (As if you needed one)

The quote I'd like to know more about (referenced in the previous post)is:

"the NERC discusses "Length of potential outages....", "Customer[s] need [this information] so they know what to plan for...",

-- Anonymous, February 13, 1999

FM,

In order to see the material first hand you must be able to view Powerpoint slides. You can get a free PowerPoint viewer from microsoft. Mac and Windows versions are available.

The quote does not come from a paragraph. It comes from the Powerpoint slide. (for those not familiar with Power Point; It is a slide presentation program that a speaker uses to highlight or put "power" into the points that he/she trying to convey. One slide goes up on a monitor or a big screen for the audience to focus on, then the next slide and so on as the talk continues. I'm quoting from the slides here but there is not a record of what the speaker is saying. (Or if there is a recording of the meeting I don't currently have access to it.)

Regarding who made the slide; The Author is listed as Alliant. (I had to check the PPT Properties of the presentation to get that limited info.)

The quote you ask about comes from the presentation titled; " Working Customers Presentation" It is on slide 3 of 8.

I agree with you that it sounds like a public communications strategy session. My guess is they decided not to communicate about these things with us.

I'm still tryin' to figure out where my utility stands too!

Steve

-- Anonymous, February 13, 1999

Steve,

Thanks for the answer. If the presenter is Alliant Energy, it's been written about that company that it's been one of the most forthcoming energy providers, in terms of public disclosure of potential problems.

Someone else may be able to provide a link to stories about that.

Thanks again.

P.S. If anyone has a direct download link for power point, I'd appreciate it.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 1999

PowerPoint Viewer Dowloads:

http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/downloadCatalog /dldPowerPoint.htm?ShowType=Viewer

1) Select all descriptions so you can see what you're getting

2) In the windows subform, scroll down to bottom. The last two options are Windows 95/97 and Windows 3.x

-- Anonymous, February 14, 1999

Remember that the focus of the workshop was contingency planning where discussion of topics could, and in my opinion should, be quite broad.

The specific bullets you chose to post in your question could be viewed differently. For instance,

"Length of potential outages...."

Could refer to addressing TEOTWAWKI theories, or successful communication that if outages occur, they will be isolated and relatively short in duration.

"Customer[s] need [this information] so they know what to plan for..."

This statement is edited a bit from the original document, but I'd argue that some people might prepare differently if the likelihood of a Y2K caused power outage and length of subsequent restoration were the same as a natural disaster hitting their area. Also, maybe large customers are needed to anchor system stability, so their normal operations are of benefit (don't want them pulling the plug at 11:45 pm). The statement could mean many things.

"Make sure local government understand the actual risk to electric infrastructure..."

Seems like good contingency planning and should promote prudent use of local tax dollars as they prepare for the event.

And providing information on "the safe use of generators" to local government.

It's apparent to me that inexperienced people using generators can hurt themselves, utility workers, and possibly damage the appliances of the unknowing neighbor next door if they don't take proper precautions.

The NERC materials are part of a workshop and speculation on intent is unfair without hearing the presenter's comments made during the presentation. To me, broad and inaccurate speculation might shut down the pipeline of information, and I don't want to see that.

-- Anonymous, February 14, 1999

I attended the Y2k workshop in Dallas. It was not behind closed doors. Registration forms were on the NERC website. The general tone of the two days was that few Y2k problems are being found in the industry. (To my relief as a contingency planner!) But that we still need to put a lot of effort into planning for the worst. Part of that could be to determine "worst case scenarios" which might involve outages to customers. Then based on those scenarios, let consumers know what they individually need to prepare for.

The release of survey documents submitted by individual companies was discussed and deemed less than prudent because that might prevent utilities from providing survey information to NERC in the future. That doesn't prevent any utility from releaseing them on there on or at the insistence of their state PUC. There was a discussion on pressure NERC will bring against utilities that appear to be tardy in their Y2k efforts.

By the way, a lot of the powerpoint slides were from breakout groups where anyone's opinion could have been captured. They don't necessarily show overarching industry or NERC viewpoints.

Hope this helps. I try not to do things behind closed doors. Also a big point of discussion during the conference was how to get the word out to the many requests for Y2k information. It is difficult because the public generally and surely the media do not understand how power works. They just want simple answers when it doesn't work. Did you ever stop and think "the lights are on and the turkey is cooking". Nope, just when the lights are out do you notice. Me too, and I hope to keep it that way.

-- Anonymous, February 15, 1999

Chuck, many thanks for your report on the recent conference! I found it very credible because of the different points you commented on, and because of the balance between positive and negative inherent in those points. For instance: Few Y2K problems are being found in the industry, but some utilities "appear to be tardy in their Y2K efforts." Also, the effort still needing to be put into planning for worst case scenarios indicates an acknowledgement that no industry stands alone and all can be impacted by failures in various other areas.

I wish you all success in your contingency planning. Calm, rational preparation is always to be desired in the face of uncertain events.

-- Anonymous, February 15, 1999