Computer 'loop' hitch won't delay KUB bills, official says

January 11, 2000

A recent computer program change at Knoxville Utilities Board offices led to a weekend hitch in a computer "loop," affecting several of its computer systems, including the one ordinarily used to handle customers' utility bill inquiries.

KUB spokeswoman Kelly Lane said the hitch has no relation to the Y2K bug associated with computers' transition from 1999 to the year 2000. Customers' January utility bills will be unaffected because of availability of backup tapes from which the original program was restored.

"We print bills at night and mail them the next day," Lane said. "So Monday's bills went out fine. The program that runs the bills is a 'batch' program, not an online system, so we won't have any problem printing bills to mail Tuesday."

Source: The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Business Briefs

http://www.knoxnews.com/archives/browserecent/01112000/archives/3928.shtml

(Same story, different take....)

Business briefs

January 21, 2000

Few KUB bills had past, future due dates

Knoxville Utilities Board commissioners heard Thursday that the utility had weathered recent Y2K concerns well with no customer service interruptions. But some computer glitch, perhaps Y2K-related, caused hundreds of KUB bills to be printed with incorrect "payment due" dates, either in January 1900 or January 2099.

Eddie Black, KUB organizational development director, said no KUB customers had called to say they noticed incorrect years on bills appearing about Dec. 21. Among billing data, only the year was wrong on some final notices of discontinued service. About 190 bills listed January 1900 due dates while 600 others -- of 55,000 mailed out -- told customers payment for their wasn't due until 2099.

"Only the 'date field' had problems," Black said. Consequences might have been worse, he said, "if we'd not prepared properly."

-- Lee Maloney (leemaloney@hotmail.com), January 30, 2000