An article I saw today is supposedly about panic in 1999, but it talks more about the possible impact of Y2K on utilities in Europe than any article I've seen so far. Here are four paragraphs from it:

"Cambridge University's Anderson said France was most at risk in Western Europe, with computer failures most likely in the public sector and especially large utilities. Any problems could quickly become a problem for neighbors such as Britain, which receives electric power from France.

""There is still quite a question mark over whether France sees the scale of the problem," said Chris Webster, head of year 2000 services at Cap Gemini.

""There's a real chance that there may be some loss of service from utilities. Who, when, where or why? Impossible to say. Will it be a complete loss of power, voltage fluctuations? And there is a remarkable lack of information from utilities as to what they are expecting to happen."

"JP Morgan's Year 2000 expert Patrick Ward says eastern Europe's and Russia's utilities are a big concern, not least because Russia provides 40 percent of German's power."

http://nt.excite.com/news/r/981230/10/tech-yearend-y2k

"Fear of Year 2000 computer bug may trigger early panic"

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), December 31, 1998

Answers

Why, oh why, would Germany depend on Russia for 40% of its' power. Talk about short-sighted! Apart from the fact that nothing in Russia is reliable, militarily it is stupid to depend on Russia for anything that is crucial. Imagine if a doofus like Zhirinovsky gets in power. He'd probably enjoy shutting down Germany's power supply.

I wouldn't depend on Russia for 40% of my Brussels Sprouts supply or 40% of my toenail clipper supply.

BTW, the official name for Brussel Sprouts as of Jan. 1st, is Euro Mini-cabbages.

-- Craig (craig@ccinet.ab.ca), December 31, 1998.

Craig,

the basic answer to your question is that the Germans don't have much choice. Reunification has been s-o-o much more expensive than they expected it to be that there's been no way to extend the western infrastructure into all of what used to be the DDR. That being the case, they've had no choice but to attempt to maintain the previous eastern block systems where possible, simply as a stop-gap measure. Last I heard they were still trying to do even simple things, like standardize traffic signals (no kidding).

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), December 31, 1998.

If some systems crashes are triggered early by the arrival of Jan. 1, 1999, it might be a blessing in disguise.

"This will involve accounting, planning and budgeting systems rather than operational executing systems, which carry out day-to-day business. It will give you some experience in spotting the errors and knowing how to deal with them," Webster said.

Hope we are all fast learners.

Blessings, Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), December 31, 1998.