State’s Big Utilities, Power Grid Report Y2K Readiness

California’s electricity transmission grid is officially ready for the turn of the century, the California Independent System Operator, the state’s electron traffic cop, said Tuesday.

The state’s big utilities say they, too, have fixed potential computer problems in nearly all major systems that might have had trouble figuring out that the new year is 2000, not 1900.

The nation’s electric utilities set today as the deadline to eradicate Y2K bugs from major computer systems. The utilities have largely completed the needed computer testing and repairs, although some work remains, particularly in rural areas, according to the North America Electric Reliability Council, a utility industry trade group.

Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power say they are ready for 2000, having spent millions of dollars and employed hundreds of people to test thousands of computerized devices and systems that could become confused by the date “00” and possibly malfunction. Pacific Gas & Electric, a subsidiary of PG&E; Corp., said its testing is 98% complete and will be finished in the third quarter.

The job now, the utilities say, is to further monitor and test their systems. Just in case, all will schedule extra employees to work Dec. 31 to handle any emergencies. Edison, for example, will dispatch 500 extra employees on New Year’s Eve.

“There are problems that we can count on occurring on any New Year’s Eve . . . and it pays to be prepared for these situations,” said Eric Trapp, Southern California Edison’s Y2K program manager.