Link to article.

Don't Blame Y2K For Power Problems

Maryland utilities launch public relations campaign to ease Y2K bug fears

Utilities in the state of Maryland are launching a big public relations campaign to ease customer's fears that not all power problems on or about January 1 2000 are related to the Y2K computer crisis.

According to press accounts, officials the state's four major utilities are making the rounds meeting with big and small customers, telling them that the Year 2000 computer problem is not going to cause any problems.

BGE, the state's largest supplier of electricity, reported has said nearly every staff member will be foregoing their New Year's Eve party plans to be on and handle any problems or customer concerns.

Officials with Baltimore Gas and Electric Company and Potomac Electric Power Company or Pepco, reportedly say they are ready for Y2K as well.

Power companies around the United States are making similar statements and public relation pushes to meet standards set by the North American Electricity Reliability Council. The non-profit industry-supported organization has become a clearinghouse for information about the responsiveness of utilities to the Y2K problem.

Source: Baltimore Business Journal

Here's the link to the "similar" comments reference.

-- Lisa (lisa@work.now), July 21, 1999

Answers

What is this utility trying to say to us?

-- lisa (lisa@work.now), July 21, 1999.

I believe they are saying Maryland will have electricity.

-- ~ (abc@def.gov), July 21, 1999.

So just because a few power officials are satisfied that they have completed their Y2K work, they now feel justified in saying that everyone is going to be OK? What if the phones go out and it brings down their communications network? Or there is a knock-on effect from elsewhere in the grid? Or....

If they are so confident in their fixes, why then are they having nearly every staff member in on New Years? That does not demonstrate confidence to me - it shows that they themselves are not sure what to expect so they are staffed to the limit.

There is a Y2K site coordinator in my (geographically diverse) company that now feels there is no need to draft up Y2K contingency plans for power outages for their location, because they talked to local power company and have been reassured that there will be no problems. I've recommended otherwise, but it goes to show that dangerous complacency can stem from a single uninformed, well-articulated conversion.

Newbie

-- Newbie (newbie@lurking.com), July 21, 1999.

If your quote is correct, they are saying that there will be multiple power outages, but not all of them will be due to Y2K problems. So it seems.

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), July 21, 1999.

Funny - we've never lost power in Baltimore before when I've been there visiting my parents, sisters, and brother on New Years Day. Come to think of it, I've never seen power lost over the Christmas holidays......

Now, why whould they "think" there might be a power outage this coming New Year's Day?

-- Robert A Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), July 21, 1999.

Let me go further: If you have worked in technology for some period of time, you know that you have a buffer between your work and the public. Sometimes, this is maintained by PR people. Depending on the subject, it may include legal experts. I've met some really good people in those positions; but rarely. What does the given statement say to me: We don't know what in the hell we are talking about but the above statement satisfies the requirements [sometimes conflicting] of a number of our most important customers. I, certainly, wouldn't read more than that into the statement. So it

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), July 21, 1999.

Typical. If you have staff on hand for the rollover, you're not confident. And if you don't, you're being dangerously complacent.

-- cd (artful@dodger.com), July 21, 1999.

Well, CD, aside from Y2K, we've been apprised of other threats to the power supply around the rollover, including:

people/businesses powering down to avoid damage

evil hackers

solar flares

Now: I live where we wouldn't even notice a loss of power in early January. We'd be out tossing a football, fishing or golfing, anyway. Maryland is different.

I just wonder why they wouldn't delineate what other threats to the power supply, if any, exist. I mean, that's quite a tease, no? "Not ALL power outages will be due to Y2K"....

-- Lisa (lisa@work.now), July 21, 1999.

Coming out of lurker mode as a special favor to Lisa.

Lisa, try reading the *source article* from the Baltimore Business Journal instead of the horribly paraphrased spin of "Everything2000.com." You might get a different perspective. Especially since in the original article there is no "unusual phrasing" such as what you emphasize here.

Source article follows: ------------------------

http://www.amcity.com/Baltimore/stories/1999/07/19/story7.html

July 19, 1999

Consumer awareness will ease panic Dec. 31

Roger Hughlett Staff

When the lights go out at New Year's Eve parties this year, utility companies hope party goers will check the fuse box before accusing the Y2K bug.

To make sure you remember that, Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. and other utilities have begun an all-out public relations campaign to remind customers that a host of problems -- other than the Year 2000 computer bug -- could shut off the lights on Jan. 1.

Officials at each of the four major utility companies in Maryland insist the Year 2000 computer problem is not going to cause any significant interruptions in power service. The companies have spent millions of dollars fixing and testing date-sensitive equipment to avoid problems on New Year's Day.

The utility companies are required to report their readiness levels to the North American Electricity Reliability Council. Officials with the nonprofit agency said preparing for Y2K requires effective public relations to education consumers and technical support to correct any problems that arise.

Maryland utilities are taking their public relations duties seriously. BGE officials have met with local business and consumer groups to explain the problem and what the company has done to prepare for it. Robert W. Cornelius, Y2K program manager for Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., a subsidiary of the Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group, has been bouncing from meeting to meeting since the beginning of the year .

Companies also sending another message: We are ready, but there is no guarantee that there will be no power outages.

"In the event of an ice storm we would like the customers to understand that it's not the Y2K problem," Cornelius said.

Still, all the money and tests in the world cannot prevent something from going wrong. Dealing with these problems -- if they occur -- is a task the utility companies say they're prepared to do.

BGE, the state's largest supplier of electricity, will be staffed to the hilt on New Year's Eve to handle power troubles and settle the nerves of any customers who discover their power is off.

Potomac Electric Power Co., popularly known as Pepco, which serves customers in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, also has announced that its mission-critical systems are prepared for the new year.

-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), July 21, 1999.

Posted in Rick Cowles EU forum...

The Contingency Plan for the Year 2000 Issue in the Nuclear Industry is online at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/COMMISSION/SECYS/secy1999-134/ y2kcplan.pdf

On page 18 is a description of how the contingency planning task force arrived at the "planning scenario" which falls between the two extremes of the range of possibilities they evaluated.

"The task force evaluated a range of possible scenarios. At the lowest end of the spectrum is a situation in which everything goes on as usual during the transition from 1999 to 2000. At the opposite end of the spectrum the task force hypothesized a worst-case scenario involving a widespread telecommunications outage, a complete loss of the North American power grid, and several major incidents at NRC- licensed facilities (e.g. station blackout, loss of ultimate heat sink, loss of feedwater) in conjunction with risk-significant challenges at many other licensed facilities (e.g. loss of offsite power or feedwater transients). The task force agreed on a "planning scenario" that falls somewhere between the two extremes. This planning scenario would encompass events that are beyond our current best estimate of likely consequences, but that would allow the staff to respond to unforeseen possibilities. After careful consideration of the current understanding of Y2K readiness and risk, as described in Section III, the task force established the following planning assumptions:

--Y2K problems will lead to localized electrical grid disturbances and power outages within one or more interconnections. However, there will not be major regional or nationwide electric power outages.

--Local or regional telecommunications outages will occur, but there will not be a complete loss of the public switched network (PSN). Networks associated with Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), major independent telephone companies, and interexchange carriers (IXCs) will remain functional.

--At least two NRC-licensed facilities will be affected directly or indirectly by a Y2K problem that requires an NRC response (e.g. loss of offsite power)

--Y2K problems will affect several nuclear power plants outside of the United States.

--Unforeseen Y2K problems will place a dozen or more nuclear power plant licensees in situations that depart from a license condition or a technical specification.

I would like to remind any readers that the above is clearly specified as NOT being a prediction, but only the scenario upon which the contingency planning guide is based.

-- Bonnie Camp (snip), July 21, 1999

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), July 21, 1999.

Last month Palm Beach County aired its community conversations Y2K forum on the local government cable channel. Well the director (don't remember his name) of Team Florida 2000 stated that if the electricity goes out on January 1, 2000 it won't be because of Y2K problems. It will be because of the "Bubba Effect." He explained that if electricity goes out it's because Bubba was drinking too much on New Year's Eve and ran into an electric pole. I kid you not! That's what he said.

-- (Too Shy@tosay.com), July 22, 1999.

No problem, Shy. We'll just assume it was a y2k bug in Bubba's car, that was covered up all along.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), July 22, 1999.

Included in my PEPCO bill this month is an interesting insert.

On the front page is the statement:

"Using a Home Generator Shouldn't Mean Hassles, Hazards and Headaches".

PEPCO has teamed with Northern Tool And Equipment to help homeowners to install generators. This makes sense as it is safe for the linemen and the customer. Why have they decided to do this?

"Because 99.9% electric reliability sometimes isn't enough for todays fast-paced world, and our customer research shows that many of our customers have ALREADY PURCHASED GENERATORS....."

They call it Generlink and it is only $9.95/month.

Nowhere in this brochure is y2k mentioned.

In a separate blurb, on one corner of a page is their y2k disclosure.

I wonder why so many of their customers have purchased generators?

-- Mike Lang (webflier@erols.com), July 22, 1999.