Elec. Telegraph: British Gas "is doubling the number of service engineers on call over the New Year period to cope with emergencies caused by. . . the Millennium Bug"

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

Friday, 17 September

BG to put 1,600 on standby to counter Bug By Roland Gribben, Business Editor

BG is doubling the number of service engineers on call over the New Year period to cope with emergencies caused by computer failures resulting from the Millennium Bug.

Contingency plans include putting 1,600 engineers on standby to handle supply breakdowns or gas bursts in the national grid operated by BG's Transco subsidiary over the four-day holiday period. Transco is responsible for Britain's main pipeline system and to meet safety regulations it has to have engineers on site within an hour of any leakage.

BG has spent more than #50m over the last two years to overhaul systems to ensure that its computers do not crash. So far its systems have survived a series of rigorous tests but David Varney, chief executive, said yesterday: "Nobody can be 100pc confident but we have done everything possible to avoid any problems."

The contingency plans were disclosed as BG announced a slide in second-quarter profits after losing a legal battle with Enron, the American utility group, over a North Sea contract. BG is faced with a #46m bill but, along with its partners, is seeking leave to appeal to the House of Lords.

The group is on course to complete a capital and business restructuring that will see the Transco business ring fenced from the exploration and international businesses.

Regulatory consultations finished yesterday and BG hopes to implement a programme that will see shareholders left with fewer shares but another cash handback, expected to be worth about 40p a share, by the end of the year.

Second-quarter pre-tax profits, #151m against #228m, were also hit by warmer weather but BG benefited from higher gas demand in the domestic and industrial markets. Half-time taxable profits marked time at #742m (#750m) and the dividend, payable December 15, is up 7pc to 4.6p.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), September 17, 1999


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