MLGW says only someone else's error can kill the light

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http://www.amcity.com/memphis/stories/1999/12/27/focus3.html

MLGW says only someone else's error can kill the light

Michael Paulk

Even if any of the doomsday predictions were true about what could happen to Memphis' public utility system when the clock strikes midnight on Dec. 31, the potential problems have been avoided, say officials at Memphis Light, Gas & Water.

MLGW, which began its Y2K program in 1995, reports that 100% of its mission-critical systems have been checked and any needed repairs have been completed. The company spent about $3.5 million-$4 million on the project for which it had budgeted $6 million. That money went primarily to cover the man hours necessary to check all aspects of its systems.

Howard Locke, MLGW strategic planning/quality management officer, says that MLGW and other public utilities are some of the best-prepared organizations because they realized early the potential for public scrutiny due to the importance of what they provide: power and water.

"We really are the first domino and obviously we realized that if we shut down for any reason, it is just the start of a chain of events," Locke says.

Because of that, Locke and his counterparts focused on fixing any problems early and letting the public know about it. The desire was to assure public confidence and alleviate any fears that Memphians might have about what Jan. 1 will be like.

Fighting the battle to sway public opinion is now the main focus of the industry, says Michael Hyland, director of engineering services with the Washington, D.C.-based American Public Power Association, comprised of 2,012 publicly owned utilities.

"Right now, believe it or not, there is someone in the state of Tennessee whose power is off for one reason or another," Hyland says. "What we are worried about is that everyone will blame every little outage on Y2K around the first of the year."

In fact, Locke and MLGW are taking the issue of public confidence so seriously that Locke responded with a letter to customers posted on MLGW's Internet site about the recent airing of Y2K, a disaster movie broadcast by NBC during the November ratings week. The movie purported to examine the what-if scenarios related to the millennium bug.

"As the year 2000 approaches, it's unfortunate that many (such as the recently televised movie Y2K) have taken advantage of this exciting time to prey on the public's fear by hyping the event without regard to the documented progress and other facts surrounding the nation's Y2K readiness efforts," Locke writes.

MLGW's efforts involved examining its computer system from top to bottom, checking almost 5 million lines of code, and checking the computer chips contained inside hand-held meter reading devices, radios, electric relays, volume control units for the water system, fax machines and even elevators, Locke says.

"A lot of people at first looked at Y2K as an insurmountable problem much like world hunger," Locke says. "They say, `Well, how do you solve it? It's so big.' But, I say, `Well, how do you eat an elephant? You take it one piece at a time until it is gone.'

"So what we did was break the job into manageable tasks that we could take care of."

The computer code was updated, and any critical hardware updated or replaced.

"Of all the chips we checked in our hardware, less than 3% had any date sensitivity, and not all of those created a problem because they were not mission critical," Locke says.

Industry officials like to note that although there is technology tied to the production and transmission of electricity, discontinuation of service is unlikely; the way the system has been designed and updated over the years leaves it very easy to operate manually.

Locke uses an analogy of a television remote control when talking about the relationship between computer systems and the delivery of utility services.

"If you lose your remote control you don't lose the ability to change channels," he says. "You just have to get up and go change the channel on the set. If our systems were shut down for any event we would still be able to operate it manually."

The only problems that MLGW might face are ones that it has had no control over, such as problems with the electric grid operated by suppliers such as TVA.

"Clearly, as a distributor, we are dependent on suppliers. Hopefully the public would realize that we are merely the distributor of products that we have no hand in producing, except water," Locke says.

MLGW buys all of its electricity from the Tennessee Valley Authority and gas from about 35 different suppliers that send gas through the pipelines of two companies: Texas Gas Transmission Corp. and Trunkline Gas Co.

A Y2K report released by the North American Electric Reliability Council in November states that TVA reported complete Y2K compliance of mission-critical systems needed for the production and delivery of power. The council is a not-for-profit industry group that works with all segments of the electric industry to set standards, policies, principles and guides on the transmission of electricity and that has been charged with reporting on the grid by the Department of Energy.

NERC spokesman Gene Gorzelnik says that of the 250 producers his organization has surveyed, only seven still have limited issues related to Y2K that must still be resolved.

TVA spent about $39.8 million on its Y2K compliance program, performing upgrades on 100% of its hydro, fossil, nuclear, and transmission systems, as well as its mainframe hardware and software systems, desktop computers, telecommunications systems, and facilities.

The gas and pipeline companies also report complete readiness for the new year, after spending time and money checking systems.

"I remember at one meeting a utility representative stood up and said, `This is going to be the biggest non-event in the history of the electric industry,' and another man said, `Yeah, but it's an expensive non-event,'" Gorzelnik says.

Contact Michael Paulk at 259-1730 or at mpaulk@amcity.com

-- Uncle Bob (UNCLB0B@AOL.COM), December 27, 1999


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