This article is well done, containing varying viewpoints from several sources, including Rick Cowles. There are so many interesting parts you should read the entire piece. Go to:

http://www.phillynews.com/inquirer/99/Feb/16/front_page/ELEC16.htm

Here are some sections:

"The project has been an eye-opening experience, said Dave Hoefner, Y2K project manager.

"We retired and replaced over one-half of the [ software and hardware ] portfolio we had two years ago," Hoefner said. "We have uncovered systems we did not know existed; discovered external software that is mission-critical. . . . We had many suppliers whose documentation said they were Y2K compliant and they failed our tests."

"When you look at this vast system, you're bound to have mistakes," said investment adviser Dennis Grabow, head of the Millennium Investment Corp. of Chicago, who is working on a study of the electric industry's Year 2000 exposure."

"Peco's $75 million Y2K budget is three times its earlier estimate. It had spent about $21 million of that through the end of 1998."

"The Electric Reliability Council acknowledges that the industry is "slightly lagging" its targets, but insists there is plenty of time to complete the work before Jan. 1."

-- Anonymous, February 16, 1999

Answers

Thanks for posting this article. I frequently find your comments helpful.

-- Anonymous, February 16, 1999

Bonnie,

You didn't mention the headline (in big black print)

Electricity industry optimistic about 2000

Anyone just glancing at the story thinks all is well. The contents were, shall we say, hair raising. Notice the money spent/money budgeted ratio? 21M/78M !!

-- Anonymous, February 16, 1999

Bonnie,

You are so full of it! What a biased book report. You failed to mention the following:

"Across all of North America, more than 50 percent of the most critical systems have been tested and/or remediated. No test has yet done anything that would have created an outage," said John Castagna, spokesman for the Edison Electric Institute, the trade organization for investor-owned utilities.

Consumers can take comfort from the fact that the electric industry has a long history of cooperation. Unlike widget makers, electric utilities regularly rely on each other to meet supply shortfalls due to plant shutdowns

"A major disturbance in one part of an interconnection has the potential to cascade through the entire interconnection," council president Michehl Gent told the Senate. He emphasized that the likelihood of such an event is "extremely low."

Industry experts say the electric system can lose some generating facilities without anyone losing power. They note that the changeover will occur at midnight, over a weekend, and in the winter -- low- demand periods for most of North America.

As part of their contingency plans, Peco and the other utilities in Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware plan to have all plants running or ready to run with a few minutes' notice, according to Stan Kijewski, chief information officer for the PJM Interconnection, the regional power pool.

If you're going to report facts, report them all.

-- Anonymous, February 17, 1999

Yes, millions of dollars are being spent to fix y2k bugs. But here's the rest of the story.

What they are finding and fixing in embedded systems is minor and on occassion moterately severe y2k problems. For the most part, what is being fixed is "Hey, this screen date shows up as '101' for the year, instead of '00'", NOT "Oh thank God! If we hadn't found and fixed this y2k bug, the whole plant would have come down", as some would have us believe.

Regards, FactFinder

-- Anonymous, February 17, 1999

rg, thank you for providing me with the ability to now identify with Dick Mills, when he wrote that no matter what he wrote, he was criticized from both sides of the fence. Interesting that I can get e-mail protesting that I posted an "Electric industry optimistic.." article, with complaints that it's full of the usual industry all's fine statements, and also be accused of the opposite. At least the e-mail protests are polite and civil, something to be appreciated in this day and age.

I also find it very curious that those who discount any negative information from Y2K sites or individuals who may in any way profit from selling anything, appear to accept corporate, government, and industry statements at face value. There is certainly as much or more vested interest for those entities to put the best possible light on a report, or omit any negative connotations, as there is for anyone else.

I have freely admitted before on this forum that I am a corporate report skeptic. I've read "everything's fine" or "everything will be fine" corporate and government agency reports for a year and a half. I'm still waiting for those entities who gave assurances they would be compliant on 12/31/1998, to announce their success. Again, I freely admit that my focus is on the potential problem areas, because it's those areas which can cause disruptions which might affect individuals. I advised people to read the entire article I posted because it had varying viewpoints. If I didn't want people to be able to access it, I wouldn't have posted it all.

-- Anonymous, February 17, 1999

Bonnie, I read that entire article too (not here). It seemed to me the headline was wishful thinking, after I read the details below. Made me wonder: did the reporter write the article and an editor write the headline? Not the first time I've seen a mismatch.

M

-- Anonymous, February 17, 1999

Bonnie, I agree with rg, you are so full of "it." Now we must define "it" as someone else in our country has insisted we must define what "is" is. In your case, "it" means: Intelligence Excellent Research capability Excellent Reporting capability Responsible Concern Empathy for those who may not prepare Open mindedness This is what "it" means. Marcella

-- Anonymous, February 18, 1999

Bonnie:

Thanks for your posts. I greatly appreciate your views. I find them interesting, informative, and comforting at times. Thanks again.

-- Anonymous, February 18, 1999