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Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman James Hoecker today reported that electric and gas utilities, which provide for over 87 percent of the energy supplied to America’s homes and businesses, are prepared for the Y2K transition. This is important because both of these industries are "real-time" providers of energy for the conveniences we take for granted – warm homes, hot water, functioning kitchens, TV’s, and computers.

"Just three months ago over a million people still weren’t assured that their power companies were prepared for the rollover into the new millennium," Secretary Bill Richardson said. "But today, with just 16 days until the year 2000, all customers across the country will be serviced by Y2K - ready power companies."

In 1998, the President asked the Department of Energy to take the lead for the Administration to ensure that the electricity sector was prepared, and that FERC take the lead for the natural gas sector.

Richardson said that it took millions of hours and billions of dollars from the member companies of both industries to get ready for the Y2K transition. The electricity sector has been represented by the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) and the gas industry by a number of associations working through the Natural Gas Council.

The department’s efforts included:

• working to get the federal utilities, including the department’s own Power Marketing Administrations, 100 percent Y2K-ready;
• contracting for independent reviews of readiness at randomly selected utilities to validate self-reported information;
• cooperating with other levels of government by approving the use of petroleum overcharge funds for state-level Y2K programs for readiness and information sharing on energy, and through testimony and presentations to state and local governments and regulators;
• participating actively in industry readiness drills and contingency planning;
• publicly releasing the names of bulk power utilities that did not meet the mid-year target date for reaching Y2K readiness, as well as smaller utilities that did not provide timely Y2K status information. While "naming names" was not always popular with industry, the resulting public pressure was instrumental in getting us to the milestone of 100 percent of utilities reported as Y2K ready; and
• establishing, in cooperation with NERC, a capability that will allow monitoring of the actual rollover throughout the world and across America as it occurs. With this system in place and tested, industry and government will be well-informed to respond to any unexpected situation that may develop.

The Energy Department also released the final 20 independent reviews performed to examine the reliability of the Y2K-findings. The findings are consistent with the self-reported information. These reviews can be located on the department’s website http://energy.gov.

While utilities have reported their Y2K readiness, Richardson advised that the public take the advice of the American Red Cross, which suggests that families prepare as they would for the possibility of a storm. People should have a flashlight on hand with fresh batteries, a battery-powered radio, adequate clothing, and a first-aid kit. And since New Year’s is a three-day weekend, Americans should prepare as they would for any other such holiday, with the right amount of food, water and other necessities.

- DOE -

R-99-332