Maybe you could visit San Diego early next year.

For Educational Purposes Only

SDG&E Pronounces Critical Systems Y2K Ready

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 1, 1999--San Diego Gas & Electric, which provides energy service to three million people throughout San Diego County and in southern Orange County, announced today that its critical systems are now Year 2000 (Y2K) ready.

``Nearly six months before the New Year, we have reached a key milestone with our efforts to ensure continued safe and reliable energy delivery for our customers into the new millennium,'' said Jerry W. Deems, vice president and chief information technology officer of Sempra Energy, SDG&E's parent company. ``Our mission critical systems at SDG&E -- those involved with energy delivery, safety and keeping the business running smoothly -- are now Y2K ready.''

``We take the Y2K issue very seriously,'' said Steven D. Davis, SDG&E's vice president of distribution operations. ``In 1996, SDG&E began work to address the Y2K challenge to ensure the same high level of service we have provided to customers for more than 100 years. While we still have additional work and testing ahead of us, this is a very important milestone in the process.''

The Y2K readiness of critical systems means SDG&E has met or exceeded standards set by state and federal agencies and by nationwide energy industry groups, including the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) and the American Gas Association. SDG&E filed a readiness report yesterday with NERC, as did many electric utilities in the U.S., and will take part in a national Y2K preparedness drill on Sept. 8 and 9 involving its contingency plans.

Hundreds of tests were completed on SDG&E's systems. In March 1999, for instance, Y2K upgrades were made to the natural gas transmission system, then tests confirmed that the system now operates successfully in the Y2K mode.

``SDG&E has a long history of dealing with emergencies, and regularly holds drills on how to deal with power outages caused by major storms or earthquakes that can damage energy delivery systems,'' said Davis. ``With the Y2K issue, we used our contingency planning experience to carefully assess more than 500 SDG&E systems, including 200 mission-critical systems over the past three years. We've worked hard -- and invested more than $20 million -- to make sure that SDG&E will continue to provide safe and reliable energy service in the year 2000 and beyond.''

Steve Malowney, manager of the Y2K Program at SDG&E and Sempra Energy, said, ``Because of our extensive Y2K program, we don't expect any Y2K-related problems when the New Year arrives. Nevertheless, we will be prepared to respond quickly if any Y2K-related service problems do arise.''

SDG&E will open its Emergency Operations Center and staff other key locations on New Year's Eve and during the first few days of the new year. Extra personnel will be on standby to respond quickly if problems occur.

The Y2K concerns center around the fact that many automated systems use two digits to store the year portion of a date, such as ``99'' for 1999. In such cases, the year 2000 may get recorded as the year ``00,'' causing problems such as equipment malfunctions or the use of incorrect dates, if the date mechanism is not corrected.

Additional information on Y2K efforts by SDG&E and Sempra Energy is available on the Web sites for those companies: www.sdge/y2k.com and www.sempra.com.

San Diego Gas & Electric is a public utility that provides service to three million consumers through 1.2 million electricity meters and 720,000 natural gas meters in San Diego and southern Orange Counties. SDG&E is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - news), a Fortune 500 energy services holding company based in San Diego.

Contact:

SDG&E
Tom Murnane, 877/866-2066
www.sdge.com

-- Sista In 'Da Hood (Sista@Da.Hood), July 05, 1999

Answers

Dear Gentlemen (and Ladies) of the TB2000 forum, 'yo sista be spacin' and forgetting to include 'da link. After much careful consideration here it is submitted for your approval SDG&E Announcement

-- Sista In 'Da Hood (Sista@Da.Hood), July 05, 1999.

Your as much of a "sista in the hood" as I am the Great Black Ninja. You discredit everyone around you with deceit and lack of respect.

-- Jack Gordon (TrnityTest@aol.com), July 05, 1999.

Post all the "happy face" articles you like, Norm, I really don't think most people object. But, as has been requested of you on your other "hit and run" threads...Lose the pseudo-Ebonics, it is terribly offensive. If you are not a racist, do you enjoy being thought of as one?

-- RUOK (RUOK@yesiam.com), July 05, 1999.

You boys be da racists....stop jackin wit me....yo be down at county fo long

-- Sista In 'Da Hood (Sista@Da.Hood), July 05, 1999.

Critical Systems are Y2k READY, Yes? Is that what chu said sista? What bout them non-critical systems? Wats ready mean? Is dat da same as Compwiant?

-- honkeytonk (whome@me.com), July 05, 1999.

I like good news. And, it doesn't surprise me that some power companies are now compliant. What I don't understand is why there's a whole slew of them suddenly compliant on July 1st. Was that a deadline?

Or are all these announcements supposed to take the public's mind off of the many high impact federal programs and Fortune 500 companies that still aren't compliant with less than six months now until Y2K?

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), July 05, 1999.

Forgive me.. Clinton and Y2K have made me very suspicious of how things are worded:

``Our mission critical systems at SDG&E -- those involved with energy delivery, safety and keeping the business running smoothly -- are now Y2K ready.''

Am I assuming right that "delivery" = transmission?

And if so... what happened to "generation"?

Favorite line: The Y2K readiness of critical systems means SDG&E has met or exceeded standards set by state and federal agencies and by nationwide energy industry groups, including the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC)

Whoa boy! Exceeds standards of NERC. "Do not make the drill to complex. We want to have a successful and meaningful story for publication." .... Is that the NERC standards they exceeded? Well then... my fears are exceedingly allayed.

Let's all sing a chorus of "Don't worry, be happy"... allay, allay, allay...

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), July 05, 1999.

Linda, the natural gas generation is ready. God has vouched for it. Compliant/ready? Take it up with him.

-- x (abc@def.gov), July 05, 1999.

I hate myself. I am an ugly, smelly little boy. I only get to play on the computer when my mommy's not home. Will you be my friend?

-- Sista In 'Da Hood (Sista@Da.Hood), July 06, 1999.

They are not ready.

"While we still have additional work and testing ahead of us, this is a very important milestone in the process."

They are still "in process" and not complete. Amazing that people believe this garbage.

-- Mike Lang (webflier@erols.com), July 06, 1999.

"Milestones to go before they sleep" :)

-- Mike Lang (webflier@erols.com), July 06, 1999.

Mike, Linda - don't get excessively critical here. If they started in 1996, spent 20 million, looked at natural gas distribution (found problems) and fixed them, tested it (in March), and returned it to service. If they really tested their electrical generation and electrical distribution correctly and in depth - then yes - they may be ready for next year.

Keep always in mind the problem can be solved, it can be eliminated, and regular generation, distribution and commercial us ecan be maintained. Yourdon (and most others) expect as much as 80% of major systems may be remediated - though at current rates, I'd estimate it more likely to be 60-75% remediated.

Just don't expect any other system who has spent less, started later, or tested less thoroughly to be "equally" compliant. If they (San Diego) have done their job right, they probably can manage to get through the those few problems they missed during integrated testing without catastrophic failure.

We hope.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), July 06, 1999.