here is the story... http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=161397

Thousands of London Electricity's pre-paying customers have been left without hot water, light, or cooked food for days, as a plan to save them from the millennium bug goes "horribly wrong".

They dare not even sleep for fear they miss a knock at the door from an engineer coming to fix the problem with their Powerkey meters, because they have been warned that if they do it could be 24 hours before help arrives again.

A London Electricity spokeswoman admitted: "It's all gone horribly wrong in London, due to technical problems with a piece of equipment which occurred at the weekend."

Around 400,000 customers have been told to change their Powerkeys in order to keep their meters working when the new year begins. Unfortunately, a problem with the new keys corrupts the meters in 25 per cent of cases and the customer is left without power.

Theatre stage manager Charles Lloyd, who lives near Elephant and Castle, said: "We've got #1.46 left on the meter but when that goes we won't have any supply. For the time being we're not going to use the cooker or washing machine. I went to change the key so the meter could be adapted, but when I got home it did not give me any credit and it's corrupted now.

"We've been told it could be two, three or four days before anyone can get round to fix it. It's just mucking people about. It's a total cock up."

Grandmother Susan Ilyas was without power for 40 hours. It was eventually switched back on during a five-minute visit from an engineer.

Sales adviser for the Body Shop, Mrs Ilyas, who lives in Paddington Green, said: "I was told someone would be round in 24 hours but they weren't.

"I had no sleep waiting for someone, because I was told that if I missed them then it would be another 24 hours before they came round to fix it. I was too scared to go to bed. I have had to have time off work because I have been so tired.

"We had no hot water and weren't able to have baths or wash clothes. It takes ages to get through to the hotline number and when you do nobody seems to know what they are doing."

She also complained of rudeness by people on the hotline. She claimed that when she pointed out to an operator that people on ventilators or home dialysis need electricity to live, the voice on the other end of the line allegedly told her: "Well, they'll be dead then."

Father-of-three Paul Cavender, aged 37, is demanding compensation after being without power for 37 hours.

He said: "We couldn't even cook or have the hot water on. Everything we've got is electric. I reckon we've lost #200 in food that was frozen not to mention having to eat out, and buy candles and torches.

"London Electricity told everyone to go out and change their keys, so this is not a problem that has been sparked by the customer. It is entirely their fault."

The spokeswoman said London Electricity was doing its best to sort the problems out and that compensation would be available to aggrieved customers.

She said: "We have still got to work out the exact cause of the problem. Our guys are working till midnight in an effort to sort the problems out. I can only apologise if staff have been rude to customers, it has been stressful."

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) Associated Newspapers Ltd., 05 August 1999 Terms and Conditions This Is London

-- Stash (stashin@home.com), August 06, 1999

Answers

"two, three or four days before anyone can get round to fix it. It's just mucking people about. It's a total cock up."

ROTFAL...not at the event, but the language. Now what would that translate to here in the US?

The employee who had such a short fuse they made the "They'll be dead" comment is obviously having big trouble dealing with reality...can only imagine how the level of insensitivities might rise if the problems can't be sorted in a few more days.

-- Shelia (Shelia@active-stream.com), August 06, 1999.

For anyone who may be on this board and experiencing this event, I realize this is no joking matter for you or anyone you may know who is caught in the dilemma. My apologies for being tickled to laughter by the language idiosyncracies. And my sincere wishes to all in the situation for a speedy recoup of facilities.

-- Shelia (Shelia@active-stream.com), August 06, 1999.

Shelia: Do you like to mudwrestle?

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.com), August 06, 1999.

KoS,

While your mud wrestling offers should get tiresome after awhile, I find they just get funnier and funnier. We are sick puppies.

-- Dave (aaa@aaa.com), August 06, 1999.

KOS: I vaguely remember you have an obsession with mud wrestling...hmmm... although I have been known to use mud packs on my face, and to muddy my hands and feet in the garden, I haven't of late taken a full tilt dive.

-- Shelia (Shelia@active-stream.com), August 06, 1999.

Ah....

so THIS is what they mean by "MINOR INCONVENIENCES"......

yeah, ok, right...

-- the artist formerly known as superlurker (slfsl@yahoo.com), August 06, 1999.

If they have no electricity they probably won't be surfing the net.

The lady who couldn't sleep for fear of missing the repair guy -- Why not just sleep next to the door...? DUH.

Remember the blitz? England ain't what it used to be.

-- feeling (sorry@for.them), August 06, 1999.

Shelia: Sounds like you are "on track" towards being "100% compliant", and "real soon" at that!!!

Gawd, I'd love to see you with your mud packs....

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.com), August 06, 1999.

KoS, Your Majesty of Espanola,

So, how many times have you watched John Candy's famous scene in "Stripes"?

Is that where it all began??????

Indeed, Bill Murray can be an influence on the weak-minded.

-- INVAR (gundark@sw.net), August 06, 1999.

"Well, they'll be dead then."

Anyone living within 11 km of an Arthur Treacher's is [a] scone.

-- Nelson Isada (isada@alaska.net), August 06, 1999.

KoS, Yes, do tell. Where did the obsession originate? Can you otherwise go about your daily chores? No offense meant. Just curious.

-- Mara Wayne (MaraWAyne@aol.com), August 06, 1999.

I just checked out the BBC web site. Not a mention of any blackout. What, London isn't important enough.....?

Strange. Explanation, anyone?

-- just (an@ignorant.yak), August 06, 1999.

"HOT OFF THE PRESS"? Check out the May 8, 1999 date of that article by scrolling down this page...

http://www.thisislondon.co .uk/dynamic/hottx/top_review.html? in_review_id=47758&in_review_text_id=35970

-- CD (not@here.com), August 06, 1999.

Whoops, technical difficulties... When you get to the above link, type ELECTRICITY into the search engine in the left hand frame. Then scroll down the page it takes you to.

-- CD (not@here.com), August 06, 1999.

You may be right CD... Got this off of y2knewswire today, but see that its gone now... http://206.54.108.130/ Sorry for any inconvience...Also recieved a email from them.. :(

-- Stash (Stashin@home.com), August 06, 1999.

I've seen this happen on other sites like Seattletimes.com

for some reason the outer page link has a bad date, or different date altogether, than the actual article.

Don't know for sure if that's what happened here--- either way, this is substantial info, that you haven't/didn't/won't/never will hear on your local news. THAT is the scary thing to me.

-- the artist formerly known as SuperLurker (Slfsl@yahoo.com), August 06, 1999.

"HOT OFF THE PRESS"? Check out the May 8, 1999 date of that article by scrolling down this page... Whoops, technical difficulties... When you get to the above link, type ELECTRICITY into the search engine in the left hand frame. Then scroll down the page it takes you to. -- CD (not@here.com), August 06, 1999. The British usage is DD/MM/YY, not MM/DD/YY. 100,000 still powerless in meter crisis
Thousands of London Electricity's pre-paying customers have been left without hot water, light, or cooked food for days, as a plan to save them from the millennium bug goes "horribly wrong".
[News article 05/08/1999]

-- Lane Core Jr. (elcore@sgi.net), August 06, 1999.

Well, that didn't format right.....

-- Lane Core Jr. (elcore@sgi.net), August 06, 1999.

Whoa! If that is correct, and this indeed was written yesterday, then I stand corrected and apologize. LOL Never even thought of that angle.

-- CD (not@here.com), August 06, 1999.

I reported it here (sniff).

My dad says it's been in the mid-90s for a good while, MOST unusual for Britain, as y'all know, where usual summer vacation packing involves sweaters and rain gear. Anything over 85F sustained and people start dropping like flies, just not used to it and no way to get cool. Houses and other structures are built to stay warm, not cool. In addition, one place in Kent had no water for three days (no warning), not Y2K related, but certainly a major inconvenience:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=000154642417163&rtmo=pQsbINle&atmo =99999999&pg=/et/99/8/4/ndry04.html

ISSUE 1531 Wednesday 4 August 1999

Water firms get dressing down over dry taps, By Peter Foster TWO water company bosses were summoned to a meeting with John Prescott yesterday after thousands of customers in Kent were left without water for four days.

The Deputy Prime Minister called the meeting at his Westminster offices after reading reports of how customers were given little information by the company's customer services department when their taps ran dry without warning last Friday.

On Monday people in the Kent villages of Kemsing, West Kingsdown and Heaverham said they had to wait almost two days before the company provided bowsers for drinking water and even longer for a sensible explanation for the loss of supply.

The company had offered a bewildering list of excuses but no apologies, they said. Particularly irritating for many was Mid Kent's apparent refusal to accept responsibility for the problem, blaming first the Met Office for failing to predict the recent hot weather and then customers for using excessive amounts of water.

Other excuses included a "blown fuse in the booster", although no one in Kent seemed to know what that meant, an air blockage in the system, a burst water main and a blown valve. Last night Mr Prescott's department issued a statement saying that the "water torture" was now over, confirming that supplies had been restored across the affected region.

But in a barely disguised dressing down to Geoff Baldwin, chief executive of Mid Kent Holdings, and Mike Clark, chairman of Mid Kent Water, he said: "I was not happy with the reports of how Mid-Kent handled this incident, particularly how they kept their customers in touch with developments.

"I have asked the Office of Water Services to find out exactly what went wrong, how the incident was handled and what lessons should be learned. I am particularly concerned that all water companies with supply problems explain the situation to their customers without delay."

Mid Kent Water was yesterday writing to explain the cause of the problems and offering up to £40 compensation to domestic customers. Businesses will be assessed separately.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), August 06, 1999.

Dave - not wise to include "puppies" in the same sentence as mud- wrestling, you'll send KOS off the deep end!

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 06, 1999.

Sorry, I sniffed so hard, took it right off the page. Here it is, from the Taskforce 2000 site:

http://www.taskforce2000.co.uk/failurewatch.htm

London Electricity Plc, London, UK, 2 August 1999

Silicon.com reports that 4,000 Londoners were left without power over the weekend after a year 2000 upgrade went wrong. London Electricity was attempting to make its powerkey meters millennium compliant, but when customers used the new keys, the meters were corrupted and cut off their power.

Source: Silicon.com, August 2, 1999

Coastguard Service, United Kingdom, 27 July 1999

According to a Daily Telegraph report, serious faults in the Coastguard Service's new computer system could put lives at risk during next month's solar eclipse. The system was ordered to avoid year 2000 problems and is currently being installed. One coastguard officer said "It has so many glitches and and faults and crashes all the time".

[The Coastguard Agency was 100% Blue according to Action 2000's Traffic Light System]

Source: Daily Telegraph, Tue 27th July

Scottish Telecom, London, UK, 22 July 1999

A Channel 4 news investigation reported that Scottish Telecom was withdrawing telephone services from around 6000 of its customers due to Year 2000 problems. The problem was with the compliance of radio telephone switches that they are unable to fix. Scottish Telecom denied it was due to the Year 2000 but a source within the company confirmed to Channel 4 that this service was being withdrawn due to date change problems. Customers have reportedly been asked to obtain telephone services from elsewhere.

Source: Channel 4 News, 22nd July 1999

Passport Office, London, UK, July 1999

Problems installing a new computer system have caused long delays in dealing with passport applications. The new system, unlike the old one, is designed to be millennium compliant. It is these Year 2000 issues that stop the passport office going back to the old system while the new one is sorted out. A classic example of the management rather than the technical problems caused by the century date change issue.

Source: Robin Guenier

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), August 04, 1999

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), August 06, 1999.

Thanks to Lane Core for the confermation!

-- Stash (Stashin@home.com), August 07, 1999.

The event WAS August 5, 1999, not May 8. Don't forget the British put their months _second_. So 5/8/99, to them, is August 5.

You can verify by stopping by London Electricity's web site and looking at their press release, dated August 5. Note: they claim the impact was much smaller than This is London does. Who to believe?

http://www.london-electricity.co.uk/pressreleases/index.htm

-- Rick Stahlhut (stahlhut@net-link.net), August 09, 1999.