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The electrical utilities industry is vulnerable, two Oklahoma lawmakers reported. One study revealed that one-third of America's power companies have not begun working on the y2k repair, and another third are severely behind. Optimists think that 80% of the firms will have completed their repairs by 2000.
My comment: This means that 20% will not have completed their repairs. The power grid is a system. How will the noncompliant 20% affect the compliant 80%? We are back, once again, to Pareto's 80-20 rule. On the negative side, 20% of your system will cause 80% of your problems.
This appeared in the DAILY OKLAHOMAN (Oct. 29).
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Rep. Fred Perry, R-Tulsa, and Rep. Abe Deutschendorf, D-Lawton, said the "Millennium 2000 computer problem" poses a danger to utilities such as electricity, natural gas and communications providers. . . .
Perry and Deutschendorf said they have studied the problem and are "extremely concerned" about the readiness of Oklahoma's utilities.
[Former representative Porter] Davis said a national survey by a utilities manager from Digital Equipment Corp. showed one-third of all utility companies had not started to correct the problem, and another third were severely behind.
Failure to correct the computer date problem could cause a massive breakdown of the utilities system and lead to a "terrible disaster worldwide," Davis said.
Authorities expect 80 percent of American companies will have fixed the problem by 2000, said Davis, R-Oklahoma City.
Perry said that AT&T had stated publicly that it, alone, has 500 million lines of code to check, with 10 percent expected to be date sensitive and in need of correction.
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