U.S.-Canadian Power Companies Said Ready For 2000

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U.S.-Canadian Power Companies Said Ready For 2000

Updated 5:57 PM ET August 3, 1999WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Utilities providing 99 percent of electricity supplies in the United States and Canada have upgraded their computers to ensure the lights will not go out on New Year's Day, according to an industry report released Tuesday.

"If New Year's Day 2000 was tomorrow, we believe the lights would remain on in North America," said Michehl Gent, president of the North American Electric Reliability Council, the group that sets reliability standards for the power grid.

The findings were contained in a report NERC presented to U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson.

While the news was good that the computers at most electric utilities will not confuse the last two "00" digits in 2000 as the year 1900, Richardson said more needs to be done to ensure there will not be disruptions in power supplies.

"No consumer should be left in the dark next January 1st," he said.

There are about 3,200 electric utilities in the United States and Canada serving a combined population of 298 million people.

Computers are critical to utilities for monitoring circuit breakers and relays on high voltage transmission lines that carry electricity.

Richardson said the Energy Department will contact those utilities that have not upgraded their computers and "crack the whip" to get them to address the problem.

The department will also conduct spot checks of utilities to make sure the information reported about their computer readiness is correct.

Richardson said he will take part in an industry-wide drill on Sept. 8 and 9 to test the electric industry's preparedness for the 2000 conversion.

Electric utilities also plan to have extra staff on hand over the Dec. 31 weekend to handle any unexpected problems, NERC said.

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Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), August 03, 1999

Answers

Look, Ray pulled a "Norm". (alright, take it easy, I'm only kiddin)

-- KoFE (your@town.USA), August 03, 1999.

Errrrrrrrr Ray;

FEMA has determined that this report is contrived. They are very pissed! Sorry to "p" on your parade.

-- FLAME AWAY (BLehman202@aol.com), August 03, 1999.


Hmm. Sure they did, Scotty. Sure they did.

Watching the true doomers squirm after this report has been most amusing. Keep it up, guys. True colors show in the end.

-- Hoffmeister (hoff_meister@my-deja.com), August 03, 1999.


Pollys- At this point in time do you really expect any Major company/industry to come right out and say "Well we really, really tried to fix the Y2K issue, but we won't be ready by the end of this year. We're sorry." ??????

also- how is it that they "know" or "are confident" or "we believe" that the power will be there when the "industry-wide drill" that will "test the electric industry's preparedness for the 2000 conversion. " is "on Sept. 8 and 9". HUH??? You mean you're STILL NOT DONE WITH TESTING?!?!?! **WTF**

How believable is the Federal government after 4 missed deadlines and numerous reports of lying and deception on or about Y2K??

-- Brent James Bushardt (brentj@webt.com), August 03, 1999.


Actually, Brent, I sincerely hope no one is "done testing" until the rolllover actually happens.

-- Hoffmeister (hoff_meister@my-deja.com), August 03, 1999.


I'm not getting why extra staff is needed over the Dec 31 weekend- was this extra staff needed over the 12/31/98 turnover?

From the NERC's 6/12/98 "Y2K Coordination Plan for the Electricity and Delivery SYstems of North America"

"It is certain that not all Y2k problems have been or will be identified, fixed, and tested in the time remaining. Also, it would not be prudent to expend unlimited resources on potential problems in search of one hundred percent avoidance of component failure...

... THere is no doubt that cascading or even localized outages of generators and transmission facilities could have serious short- and long-term consequences..."

So was NERC wrong then, or are they wrong now? And if there is a track record of wrongedness, how much credibility remains?

What will Mr Richardson exactly do when he says that he will 'crack the whip?'

-- Spanky (nospam@spamfree.net), August 04, 1999.


I postem, with the thought in mind that MOST on this forum can figure out which are being SPUN. It doesn't take a "ROCKET SCIENTIST".

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), August 04, 1999.


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