Is this the tip of the iceberg? Why won't they list them? And why shouldn't we prepare?

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28 ELECTRIC UTILITIES FAULTED ON Y2K READINESS; GRID TEST SET

The Energy Department is concerned that 12 electric utilities are not ready for Y2K, the NEW YORK TIMES is reporting Wednesday editions.

"Another 16 utilities, all municipal or rural cooperatives, have not reported on their state of readiness, and dozens of others are not ready but have convinced the North American Electric Reliability Council, which coordinates planning for power plants and power lines, that they have only limited problems to fix," the paper reports.

The news comes just as the electric utility industry was set to begin a large-scale Y2K grid-test Wednesday night and Thursday in preparation for New Year's Eve.

The tests run from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m.

On September 8, electric utility power plants across the country will prepare for and closely monitor the date rollover at midnight. 9/9/99 is a key date for Y2K testing because computer users have used nines to mean end of input, which could shut down computers programs on this date. The drill is intended to simulate as realistically as possible the exercise of operation, communications, administrative and contingency plans for the Y2K transition.

U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson will participate in the grid-test from the Department of Energy's Bonneville Power Administration in Vancouver, Washington. BPA owns and operates one of the nation's biggest high-voltage transmission grids. About 15,000 circuit miles of transmission line network across 300,000 square miles in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and sections of Wyoming, Nevada, Utah and California.

-- BB (peace2u@bellatlantic.net), September 08, 1999

Answers

There will be nothing reported but some very minor easily correctable glitches.

Wanna bet?

I'm sure the press release is already written.

-- Art Welling (artw@lancnews.infi.net), September 08, 1999.

Why won't they list them?

Listing of Utilities "Ready with Exceptions":

ftp://ftp.nerc.com/pub/sys/all_updl/docs/y2k/Y2k-Ready-July.pdf

Full NY Times Article:

http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/09/biztech/articles/08y ear.html

September 8, 1999

28 Utilities Faulted on Year 2000 Readiness

By MATTHEW L. WALD

WASHINGTON --- The Energy Department said Tuesday that it was concerned that 12 electric utilities were not ready for the year 2000, as the electric utility industry was set to begin a large-scale drill on Wednesday and Thursday in preparation for New Year's Eve.

Another 16 utilities, all municipal or rural cooperatives, have not reported on their state of readiness, and dozens of others are not ready but have convinced the North American Electric Reliability Council, which coordinates planning for power plants and power lines, that they have only limited problems to fix.

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said in a statement today that "until all the utilities across the country can say they are Y2K-ready with full contingency plans, I cannot assure consumers that we have done everything possible to keep the power on into the year 2000."

The Year 2000 problem, known as Y2K, arises from a long-time practice of computer programmers to enter only the last two digits of the year; some computers, facing the year after 1999, will assume it is 1900, and could fail or produce bad data.

The companies judged not ready are mostly small. Some much larger ones, like the Ameren Corporation, which serves 1.8 million customers in Missouri and Illinois, are considered "ready with limited exceptions." Spokesmen for companies in that category, though, said that they expected to be ready well before Dec. 31. Some said the delays were the result of new equipment that had not been tested, and others said there were economic and operational benefits to waiting until after summer.

By naming names, Richardson appeared to be trying to put pressure on laggards.

At one that was declared not ready, Tacoma Power, a municipal utility in Washington state that serves 143,000 customers, Max Emrick, an assistant generation manager, said that control systems at two hydroelectric stations were unprepared for 2000. Hardware was in hand to fix them, he said, but the stations would not be shut down until later this month and October.

If the utility had to, Emrick said, it could program the systems to believe it was 1972, a leap year like 2000 with the same day-date matchup.

But even if the utility did nothing, Emrick said, the two generators would keep working. "With these pieces of equipment, it's nice to have the right date on them, but we could do about any date," he said.

Emrick said he considered his company to be in the category of "Y2K ready with limited exceptions," even though the Energy Department does not.

At Ameren, Susan L. Gallagher, a spokeswoman at the St. Louis headquarters, said that the system had been running at full blast all summer because of the heat, and "we didn't want to monkey with it."

The devices that measure pollution on some of the company's coal-fired power stations are not ready for 2000, Ms. Gallagher said.

The company's transmission system also has software that must be upgraded, she said.

"Everything will be YK2-ready on September 30," Ms. Gallagher said. "We are now doing that work."

Another company on the Energy Department's "limited exception" list was Cilcorp Inc. of Peoria, Ill., the parent of the Central Illinois Light Company. A spokesman, Neal C. Johnson, said a 30-year-old system that communicates between substations and a dispatch center had been replace this summer. The new equipment is being tested now for Year 2000 compliance, he said.

This week's rehearsal is expected to involve over 2,000 companies that will simulate operating if a generating station or a voice link fails.

Some of the companies that the Energy Department said were not ready were traditional utilities, and others were owners of scattered power generating plants.

The department listed the Central Louisiana Electric Company; City Public Service of San Antonio, Tex.; Cogentrix Energy Inc. of Charlotte, N.C.; Lafayette (Louisiana) Utilities System; the city of Lakeland, Fla.; Milford (Mass.) Operating Company; the Utility Board of Brownsville, Tex.; and the Plains Electric Generation and Transmission Cooperative of Albuquerque, N.M.

In addition, the Department listed four companies that the North American Electric Reliability Council said have since moved up into the "limited exception" category: Tacoma Power; the Platte River Power Authority of Fort Collins, Colo.; United American Energy Corporation of Woodcliff Lake, N.J.; and the Calenergy Company Inc., now known as MidAmerican Energy Holdings, of Omaha, Neb.

-- Hoffmeister (hoff_meister@my-deja.com), September 08, 1999.

There is a note by Rick Cowles posted on his site regarding this test. Hope everyone reads it.

-- LindaO (lindao@hotmail.com), September 08, 1999.

Ricks note... for the password challenged...

A Note on the NERC Drill, September 8 - 9

Just a quick note - I've been a busy boy, and haven't had much time for participation recently - but will be getting back to the bboard shortly (for those of you who may have missed me, ).

For those of you following the NERC-sponsored drill today and tomorrow: while the drill officially runs from September 8th to 9th, that doesn't mean it's a full day thing. The drill actually gets into full gear about 8PM EST on 9/8 (today), and will end, for all intents and purposes, somewhere between 3 and 4AM on 9/9.

I've been invited to observe the drill (on behalf of a client) at a regional control facility in the Northeast U.S. There is supposed to be a critique of the drill at 5AM on 9/9. Hopefully, I can hang in there for the critique. Regardless, I'll post my impressions under this thread sometime in the next 48 hours.

Let's not lose sight of the fact that this "drill" isn't operationally testing any portion of the U.S. electric distribution or generation systems. It is a telecommunications exercise, and a drill to ensure that appropriate technical personnel can be dispatched in a timely manner to deal with potential disruptions.

Keep this in mind when you read the headlines tomorrow, "Electric Industry Passes Final Y2k Test With Flying Colors".

-- Rick Cowles (rick@csamerica.com), September 08, 1999

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), September 08, 1999.

Thanks Diane, This confirms what Art said above and what we all knew and felt about this 'test'.

-- BB (peace2u@bellatlantic.net), September 08, 1999.

I have read all the NERC's reports and have looked at MOST of the other sites and I still have alot of questions. First why has the NERC waited until now to name SOME but not all names of plants or companies that are not ready. Second what does the term "limited exceptions" really mean. Does it mean that the doors to the corporate office may not work but the power will stay on. Or does it mean that the have a plan to communicate to the NERC that if their plant shuts down they are out of the game for a while until they fix it. Irealize that these are two extreme suggestions in their severity but without definitions of common terms how can anyone have a truly informed opinion. The only thing I have been able to confirm on this whole affair is that NOBODY has any clue as to exactly what will happen but everybody knows SOMETHING is going to happen.

-- dragoneyez (dragoneyez@mindspring.com), September 08, 1999.

My electric company isn't listed on either the ready or the exception lists. What does THAT mean?

-- me (not@real.com), September 08, 1999.