http://www.chicago.tribune.com/version1/article/0,1575,SAV-9912090213,00.html

Forces' Pahl threw his hands up when he thought about the quandary he was in. On the one hand, he said, the rental business is twice as good this year as it was last year.

On the other hand, he's had to turn down a parade of companies seeking backup generators that included BP/Amoco, Lucent Technologies, Abbott Laboratories and even ComEd.

Despite the scattered shortages and all the attention, nobody--from ComEd to hardware store managers--expects electrical outages on New Year's Day.

-- lisa (lisa@work.now), December 09, 1999

Answers

They really Got It and planned their contingencies well and in advance ... NOT

-- dumbo (mumbo@jumbo.rumble), December 09, 1999.

"Despite the scattered shortages and all the attention, nobody--from ComEd to hardware store managers--expects electrical outages on New Year's Day."

They're wrong. I do.

-- Me (me@me.me), December 09, 1999.

Why do they even bother with the "but nobody expects outages" disclaimer? It's so laughable, all these companies putting their money where their mouth isn't and demonstrating that they don't trust each other's compliance statements, while still asking us to trust theirs.

Every time I read about a company having "no real worries", but preparing "just in case", I nod and think "Yup. Me too. I'm following the smart money."

Maybe a good tack to take with DGI's? Preppers are just following what companies are actually doing, not what they're saying. Buy beans!

-- Servant (public_service@yahoo.com), December 09, 1999.

Maybe Larry can sell them some of his....lol

-- a (a@a.a), December 09, 1999.

All things considered, gas-wise, oil-wise and otherwise: HOW LONG does everyone really expect to be able to run all of those generators?

Got Solar? Charli

-- Charli Claypool (claypool@belatlantic.net), December 09, 1999.

If your electric utility is comparably-sized, suggest you ask the Y2K remediation head if similar vulnerabilities were identified and remediated.

-- lisa (lisa@work.now), December 09, 1999.

Repeating my frequent y2k whine, how many companies and agencies, which have claimed to be y2k ready, are in fact still waiting for software or hardware that will never come in time???

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), December 09, 1999.

I think I'm going to go Polly for a few days, I'll sleep better...

so

actually there is another quite rational explanation for why all these big companies need huge generators at the end of December.

They're throwing parties. (no, I'm not kidding)

There are just alot more companies and communties throwing "Millennium Bashes".

There is an example of this cited in the article above (you have to read the article, not just the snippet), plus, earlier this year, my Bank, The Northern Trust, had some sort of small outdoor private party in their parking lot under a tent.

The parking lot only holds 16 cars... not very big, but they STILL had a generator from Forces inc in naperville there to supply power for the little event.

Although there may be a number of companies and communties renting generators for "standby" during the rollover, I suspect that a number of the ones turned down were those planning parties and they just didn't think that there might be a finite amount of generators available.

now I'm going to take a nap.

-- plonk! (realaddress@hotmail.com), December 09, 1999.

Shhhh, at least one of those company's only started implementing contingency plans a couple months ago. Course had to hold lots of meetings for the big wheels first. Corporate America disconnect. The PR releases and SEC prints are waaayyyy ahead of the actual plan, test or implementation. Tell them what they want to hear. Shhhhh.

-- more space (space@space.space), December 10, 1999.

When DC said it was going to get the big generators for its contingency plans in June and July, I said that it was too late then to buy large units.....to late to build them, move them, install them, and install all the support piping, fuel, and electricall connections.

Small units (trailer portable) if they could have been bought then, might have been ready in time. Buying a unit now isn't practical for anything larger than a house-size loads. Most businesses are simply too big a user to be able to do anything with a little unit but run some of the lights in some of the offices and stairways - IF they can be hooked up at all in time.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), December 10, 1999.

HELLO!



-- n (a@m.nm), December 12, 1999.