'Smaller water, sewer companies appear
unprepared for Y2K bug
By KARIN SCHILL, Staff Writer
The Year 2000 bug is expected to create a mess for some of North
Carolina's 260 small water and sewer companies, including possible service
interruptions and hazardous discharges, according to a report released
Tuesday by the state Utilities Commission's public staff.
But how bad the problem is remains uncertain: More than 100 of the
companies didn't even respond to a Year 2000 survey the commission
ordered last spring.
Most are mom-and-pop operations scattered throughout the state, with
40 in the Triangle. The 260 companies serve a combined 140,000 water
customers and 40,000 sewer customers statewide.
The good news for North Carolinians worried about the end of the
century is that all of the major power, telecommunications and gas
companies should be functioning come Jan. 1, 2000. Many, in fact, are
"ahead of the curve" in their preparations, the report says.
By contrast, many of the small private water and sewer companies have
not even begun to assess whether they have a problem, the public staff's
analysis concluded. Some are known to have equipment operated by
embedded chips -- microprocessors that may have been programmed to
read only the last two digits of a year, such as "98" for 1998. The concern is
that such computers will read 2000 as 1900, causing them to crash in
addition to other problems.
"If those chips are date-sensitive ... then there could be improper
discharges or the plant could shut down," said Jimmie Little, chairman of the
public staff's Year 2000 Committee. "With water companies, you have
controls to release chemicals, to release ash, to release all kinds of things.
Systems could shut down, could send out water without the proper
treatment."
The public staff represents the public in matters before the Utilities
Commission.
Little said his group started its investigation last spring "assuming that
people knew about the Year 2000 problem." It soon became clear that
many owners of the state's smallest utilities knew next to nothing about the
Y2K bug, he said.
That could explain the nonchalance many companies seem to have.
As of last week, only 20 of the state's 28 electric cooperatives that were
surveyed had responded, even though a failure to meet a commission order
could lead to a $1,000 daily fine. Of the state's 689 telecommunications
companies, 513 didn't respond, the report said.
So far, no companies have been fined, but all have been reminded in
writing that their responses are mandatory.
Annette Stamatkin, vice president of information systems for the N.C.
Electric Membership Corp., said some cooperatives already have tested
their electricity systems, finding that no major problems had cropped up.
The NCEMC has formed a Year 2000 team that is working with the
cooperatives to address the issue, she said.
All 28 cooperatives also are expected to respond to the survey.
"We're working as hard as we can," Stamatkin said.
North Carolina's city-owned power distribution systems, often referred
to as "munis," are not regulated by the state and were not part of the survey.
The public staff report also sheds some light on the immense costs
associated with ridding equipment and computers of Y2K bugs.
Carolina Power & Light, Duke Power and North Carolina Power Co.
together expect to spend $120 million to remedy the problems.
Telecommunications giants AT&T and MCI plan to spend up to a
combined $800 million, and GTE, Sprint and BellSouth about the same.
The state's three major gas companies -- North Carolina Natural Gas
Corp., Public Service Gas Co. of North Carolina and Piedmont Natural
Gas -- expect to spend $33 million.
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