Questions we should be asking our utilities?

Now that we are in the end game before the rollover period, it seems quite clear that Senator Robert Bennetts Special Committee on the Y2k Computer Problem and John Koskinen, of the Presidents Council on Year 2000 Conversion, are both asking individuals to learn more about the Y2k situation where they live, and prepare accordingly.

The problem is, most people (and many reporters) dont know what questions to ask and what the answers SHOULD be.

Using the experience and brainpower of this forum, is it possible to come up with a good list of questions (or links to reputable web sites that contain good questions) we should be asking of our utilities, along with what--in a perfect world--the answers should be?

Questions and answers should perhaps concern (at a minimum):

Electricity providers Water utilities Natural gas providers Fuel providers (home heating oil and propane)

I think this could be very helpful to all of us, since weve been led to believe that disruptions will be localized (whatever that means) and temporary (whatever that means).

Also, if you have good questions/answers to post here, please tell us how you developed them, and/or list sources.

:)

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), June 09, 1999

Answers

Here are a couple of questions to ask your local utility company. I received a very detailed response.

What contingency plans, if any, are in place?

What percentage of Y2K resources are being spent on contingency?

What is your vendor cut- off date for Y2K compliance?

Are your back-office and billing systems considered Mission-Critical? If so, are they compliant?

Also, does (your utility) participate in the EPRI Year 2000 program?

For more questions to ask your local utility visit the EUY2K.com site

-- y2k dave (xsdaa111@hotmail.com), June 09, 1999.

It couldn't hurt to ask them how many squirrels on fan belts they have. Just in case. I haven't seen any on my place, so maybe they have THAT one covered.

-- Will continue (farming@home.com), June 09, 1999.

ROTFL on the squirrel remark. . .but seriously,. . .

Dave, I assume these questions are just for electricity providers? Also, what is EPRI?

:)

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), June 09, 1999.

You expect an honest informative answer? LOL. My utility was 25% completed 2 months ago with a completion date of 6 99. There was a big article in the paper that everything is fixed, the rollover test worked fine with no loss of power etc. etc. The word embedded systems was never mentioned. They made fantasitic progress to do 74% of the work in 2 or 3 months. There are two power plants fueled by natural gas for a service area of roughly 250,000 people and the expenditures were approximately $3,000,000. The billing system had been fixed last year by a windowing system. This does not sound like nearly enough money and it could not be done this quickly. I would think that $15,000,000 would be more realistic but have nothing to compare it with except the figure of $50m for Montgomery County that included all county government systems. A cost history of verified completed successful remediations would help. Is there a source of this data? My generator is in the shed and I do not plan to sell it but do wonder if there will be fuel for it.

-- Tom (notstupid@bb.gom), June 09, 1999.

FM

Here is some Testimony from Industry Canada (May). The Gentleman considers SCADA software the greatest risk of failure and the most expensive to fix. A good start for questions.

INDYEV125-e
 

The Ontario Clean Water Agency, which operates more than 400 systems in
Ontario, indicates that SCADA problems could individually require up to
$5,000 for hardware and operating system fixes, and from $60,000 to
$200,000 for SCADA system software fixes with full software installation and
testing. It should not be forgotten, though, that there is also the opportunity to
set the clock back on the systems, with full testing, of course, as an interim
alternative solution.

Other internal system problems relate mainly to operator training and the
primary contingency plan of returning the system to manual control. Many
system operators have never been trained to operate under manual control
conditions, since most systems have some degree of automatic operation with
system backups and redundancies being in place. As part of the contingency
planning process, where need be, system operators are being retrained to
manual control conditions.

Other internal problems relate to system operation, making sure that water
reserves and storage facilities are fully charged prior to midnight December 31
and that waste water systems have been discharged to the maximum degree
possible. Most water utility systems have about two days of treated water
supply in storage systems at all times, and many could have sufficient treated
water on hand to meet as many as seven or more days of typical mid- winter
demand if they fully charged their storage facilities and if provincial or backup
power is available to operate the pumping systems. Any prolonged failure of the
provincial power grid will result in a sharp decrease in demand for water and
extend the use of such stored water.

Finally, it should be noted that all manned systems have planned and
pre-approved authorities to go to full staffing during the critical millennium
change period instead of following the skeleton staffing levels normally applied
during the New Year's holiday period.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), June 09, 1999.

This is just a suggestion but if you happen to know any of the managers personally you might want to ask them if they have a generator at their house. I know a couple who do. Makes me feel warm & fuzzy all over!!!!!!!!

-- Mother Hen (gathering@herchicks.com), June 10, 1999.

Hmmm. . .I'm beginning to think the best question to ask of any utility is: "What are you advising the PUBLIC to do to prepare for unexpected failures?"

John Koskinen recently said, The fact that the power grid holds doesnt have anything to do with whether your communitys ready and whether you ought to be prepared.

I think with a little luck this summer, well be able to get people to understand that in these areas, even when people think theyre done, theres a tremendous amount of emergency planning going on, and preparedness going on, and therefore everybody oughta do that. Were going to try to get that part of the message out with greater visibility, because to some extent, from what people have heard about it, its old news that we think the power grids going to be O.K., its newer news that we think everybody still needs a preparedness plan.

He also said,

Weve been concerned about underreaction being as big of a problem as overreaction.

:)

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), June 10, 1999.