|
Power firms face Y2K woes
|
 |
April 16, 1999: 3:39 p.m. ET
GAO report says nearly half of electric utilities will miss preparation deadline
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The nation's electric power utilities have completed only 44 percent of Year 2000-related preparedness and testing, giving rise to concerns about the possibility of widespread power failures as the new year approaches, according to a government report.
The General Accounting Office (GAO) also reported that 46 of the participating organizations said they don't expect to be Y2K ready by the industry's June target date.
Furthermore, 16 percent of those organizations said they don't expect to be Y2K-compliant until the fourth quarter of 1999.
The Y2K problem refers to problems computers may face during the transition from 1999 to 2000 because many computers are programmed to recognize only the last two digits of the year. Computers may recognize 2000 as 1900 or may cease to function altogether.
Among the concerns is that many people may face outages in key services, such as electricity and water supply.
Noting that the U.S. electric power supply industry is comprised of about 3,200 electric utilities, the GAO expressed concern about the industry's efforts to make their systems Y2K ready.
"While the electric power industry has reported that it has made substantial progress in making its equipment and systems ready to continue operations in the year 2000, significant risks remain," the report said.
Because power utilities are dependent on embedded computer control systems -- that is, chips that are built into a computer's architecture and can't be replaced with different chips - the industry is particularly susceptible to Y2K-related failures.
"All phases of operations in the electric power industry, from generation to distribution, use control systems and equipment that are subject to Year 2000 failures," the GAO report said. "The industry's analysis of its embedded systems has shown that the Year 2000 problem places the nation's electric power systems at risk."
Last month, a special committee established by the Clinton administration found that 11 of the 24 major federal agencies, including the Energy Department, missed the government's March 31 deadline for making their mission-critical systems Y2K compliant. 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
