Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Discuss Year 2000 Issues -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ken Salaets who wrote (3751)	2/8/1999 12:23:00 AM
From: jwk	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9818

From the business section of today's Denver Post....tried to find this in the on-line version, but it wasn't there. I'm typing this very fast, please excuse the typos. (note how the author does all he can to stay out of the concerned crowd, but events just won't let him relax) PUC GEARING UP TO HEAD OFF Y2K By Bill Schroer (economist who workds in energy and environmental policy issues at the local, state, and federal levels) Almost everyone has heard about the y2k problem from various sources including Chicken Littles that are poppin up to prepare us for some kind of apocalypse. I've dismissed the prophets who use y2k as a stage for propaganda and the quick-buck artists that turn legitimate concerns over computer malfunctions into unwarranted fear. Yet, when Denver recently alerted its residents to stockpile up to four day's supply of food and water as a precatution for utility service snafus, it forces one to take a sober look at y2k. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission defines the y2k problems as....snip... The PUC hs opened a docket to check on y2k and has plans to make corrections this year. Throughout 1999, the PUC will investigate the testing of internal systems and contingency planning by utilities. Public Service Company of Colorado will spend about $25 million to ferret out glitches. The state's largest energy utility exects to unsnarl its snags before New Year's Day, but concedes complications beyond what it controls: for example, disconnects from telecommunications companies or from other power suppliers that add juice to the Western state's electric grid could still create chaos in Colorado. Individual utilitites should solve their y2k conundrum, but what still may cause y2k calamity is something that is exscaping our total control: a dependence on complex and inflexible electric utilities. We won't really know until 1/1/00, what will occur since each utility relies on so many other services that in turn depend upon computer systems. Will these systems still interact, or will there be unforeseen disruptions due to intricacies between systems? Even though the sky could fall, it's my belief 1/1/00 will be a dud, except for new Year's revelry, instead of Doomsday. Most crises happen suddenly and too many skilled people have had time to get ready for y2k, although we could experience some brief power outages. Yet, because y2k is a risk that can't be eliminated simply by time, work or investment, it forces us to think about our society and the way we use energy. Y2k is a warning about the importance of conservation and altenative energy sources. Beyond y2k, consumer face risks from the exisitng electirc supply network including outages from vandalism, air pollution, global warming from coal buning, and an overreliance on coal to generate most of our juice that keeps us susceptible to rate hikes form environmental regulation, taxes and railroad fees. Solar and other renewable energy sources and more natural-gas power plants provide cleaner electricity, diversify our options and make the gid less vulnerable . Thanks to the leadership of some energy suppliers, these choices are now being tapped. Before you spend a dime on survival stuff, check the progress of the PUC's y2k docket at www.dora.state.cous/puc/y2k.htm, or call PUC at 303-894-4200. If you want to spend money on something that makes you more self-sufficient yet keeps you connected to society, contact the solar electric, or photovoltaic, service line at....snip....