TORONTO, June 25 (Reuters) - Ontario Hydro said on Friday it was Y2K ready.

The company completed testing before the June 30 deadline set by the North American Electricity Reliability Council, an organization which oversees electric utilities in Canada and the U.S.

Possible computer glitches on January 1, 2000, could have affected the company's operations.

``We are confident that our Y2K program has minimized the potential for customer inconvenience and Y2K-related risks to our electricity delivery systems,'' said Dave Barrie, general manager of transmission network asset management, ``but as is the case with our everyday operations there are no guarantees that outages won't occur.''

The focus from now until the end of the year is on preparing contingency plans for the December 31 rollover, company spokesman Peter Webster told Reuters.

``We will be manning some of our transformer stations on the evening of December 31 as an extra precaution,'' Webster said.

At peak demand in winter and on hot summer days, the company can distribute about 21,000 megawatts every 10 minutes, he said.

-- Mild Mannered Reporter (Clark@super.duper), June 27, 1999

Answers

Yeah well, I'm *confident* they're about to meet their peak.

-- Will continue (farming@home.com), June 28, 1999.

So, Will Not Think, please display your factual evidence that Ontario Hydro is not compliant. Waiting...

-- Y2K Pro (2@641.com), June 28, 1999.

Y2K Pro,

Actually, we are all *waiting* for them to prove that they really are ready.

-- Gordon (gpconnolly@aol.com), June 28, 1999.

Well y2k you've picked an unlikely target.

Ontario Hydro) - a very long time ago - demonstrated it had made better progress, more effective testing, and better general awareness than most any other utility in North America.

So, they may be correct - we certainly hope so. Now that we agree this one company appears on track, and probably justified in their optimism, what about the rest of the 4500-odd utilities?

The fact that one can be optimistic is reasonable. expected in fact - I'd be very surprised if perhaps as many as 80% of the utilities (perhaps we can hope for 90% ?) are compliant enough that they can track down and correct the remaining problems they missed.

So - which ones are going to fail? How long? And what specific processes and citites (overall) will be afffected by the many "local" failures Mr. K's has promised?

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), June 28, 1999.

Robert, I did not "pick" the target. I was merely challenging the Doomer chant from an ilogical, semi-literate, know-nothing.

Ontario Hydro is not just another utility, they are the largest provider of power in North America. If you believe they are compliant and others are not, perhaps you can name the "others" and the reason they are lying to us and NERC.

-- Y2K Pro (2@641.com), June 28, 1999.

Never said there were no others, I've always maintained "most" will be ready. I've also been consistent in stating that more plants would be able to get power to the "fence" than can get power through the distribution system. What you've done, on the other hand, is blindly assumed that the publicized results were both accurate (with respect to the implied or amplified conclusions of the administration and the press) and complete (with respect to adequcy of the test).

You misunderstand - all I want them (the remaining 4499+ utilities and power plants) to do is fairly and in enough depth test their distribution and control systems.

Or would you prefer they wait until the live test is required in January?

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), June 28, 1999.

Those are fair comments Robert, however, What you've done, is blindly assumed that the publicized results were both inaccurate (with respect to the implied or amplified conclusions of the administration and the press) and incomplete (with respect to adequacy of the test).

I have no reason to disbelieve what the individual power suppliers are telling me(publicly or privately) reports from NERC, or the stuff I read from Dan the Power Man. Where does your disbelief come from?

-- Y2K Pro (2@641.com), June 28, 1999.

Y2K pro

For once I will agree with you. The Canadian Utilities have made great strides in fixing their problems. As a Canadian I have alot more confidence in their efforts than I did a year ago. There is lots of information on their efforts documented in Industry Canada testimony from all the provinces. This does point out a weakness in the US systems though and that is the Canadian Utilities are often province wide and can use this to their advantage in not reinventing the wheel all the time.

The Quebec power outage was the biggest disaster in Canadian history. In away it could have been a blessing. Up here Y2K is compared to it. No one wants to see a repeat.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), June 28, 1999.