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To: JDN who wrote (20507)	7/13/1998 1:36:00 PM
From: John Mansfield	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 31646

'Many utility companies remain in the dark on Y2K by Bill Burke/BusinessToday staff The electric power industry is about to undergo massive change with deregulation. Add to it the challenge of the Year 2000 computer problem, and the future starts to look a bit dark. With resources focused squarely on the deregulation process and the ensuing competition, there could be precious little left to deal with the impending Millennium Bug. From here on in, it's going to be a bumpy ride. Fortunately, however, addressing Y2K is high on at least one regional utility's "to-do" list. The NEES companies, which include Mass. Electric, Granite State Electric, Narragansett Electric and New England Power, said the company is prepared to face the challenge. "We already have something in place," said NEES spokeswoman Darlene MacDonald. "We're one of the few utilities that does." Which, if you ask Rick Cowles, author of "Electric Utilities and Y2K," is a very bad thing. "In our industrialized and techno-oriented society, the mere possibility of being without power for an extended period of time is clearly a scary thought," Cowles said. "No lights. No heat. No running water. These are basic and life-essential services that most residents of industrialized nations in the 20th and 21st centuries are ill-prepared to be without." So four of the major electrical utilities in the region say they're prepared. But can they pass Cowles' test? "At this late stage of the game, the Y2K Program Office must be issued jackboots and given a free hand to intimidate, expedite, and harass as appropriate," he says. NEES didn't blink. "We are way ahead of the curve," said NEES' Karen Berardino. The four NEES utilities started addressing the issue in October of 1996. It has since hired a full-time staff, and purchased a $25 million mainframe dedicated to dealing with the Y2K problem. "Our goal, of course, is to provide seamless service to our customers," Berardino said. "We expect to be done early next year." The same can not be said for every utility, however. Berardino said NEES has been contacted by other companies who have yet to deal with the issue, or have experienced problems in doing so. In fact, Cowles says that for every electric company that's deeply involved in the task at hand, there's another that hasn't yet progressed beyond the business case stage. ... Jan. 1, 1999, however will be final dress-rehearsal. Any system that uses a one-year planning cycle will be afforded a pretty good idea of what it's facing by that point. And then it's show time. "This could flip into a quasi-panic," said Leland G. Freeman, of the Resource Recovery Co., of Framingham, Mass. ... Rick Cowles' The Year 2000 and Electric Utilities businesstoday.com