Detroit Edison Ready for Y2K Rollover on New Year's Eve

DETROIT, Dec. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Detroit Edison's rollover to 2000, after spending 3 1/2 years and $87 million to provide its customers with a seamless flow of electricity, is now down to watching the clock. Although the utility reported publicly July 1 that it has all systems critical to generating and distributing power ready for the transition to the new year, Detroit Edison since then has been developing and finalizing contingency and emergency plans to address the Y2K factor. "Our focus now is monitoring our systems New Year's Eve and making sure we're in a position to respond to the unlikely event of the unknown," said Paul A. Childs, Detroit Edison Y2K program manager. "We've reached the culmination of our program and everything is in place so that our customers will receive the same kind of electric service they have on past New Year's Days." Nearly 2,000 Detroit Edison employees will be available to work the holiday weekend, more than tripling the usual complement that work the four- day stretch, to respond to isolated emergencies that may arise from any unknown situations. Even employees not scheduled to work will remain ready to report for emergency work should the need arise. After concentrating on the electric generation and distribution sides of the business, Detroit Edison has also prepared its "back office" systems such as customer billing and employee payroll for the Y2K rollover. The first batch of bills with a 2000 due date were processed without incident. "All of the indicators are that Jan. 1, 2000 will be like any other day," Childs said. "Detroit Edison will provide safe, reliable electric service to our more than 2 million customers in Southeastern Michigan like we do every other day of the year." On New Year's Eve, Detroit Edison officials will maintain regular contact with other members of the Southeastern Michigan Y2K Utilities Forum (SMUF). Detroit Edison has taken a lead role with SMUF, recognizing that all utilities are interdependent. Other SMUF members are Ameritech, Consumers Energy, Detroit Water & Sewerage, Detroit Public Lighting Department, MichCon, Michigan Gas Utilities and Southeast Michigan Gas Co. Detroit Edison expects no widespread power outages resulting from Y2K, but Childs warned that history indicates there will be power outages in the wee hours of Jan. 1, and even later that day. "The first thing is for people not to panic," he said. "There's many reasons for power outages, from animals getting into our equipment to drunk drivers hitting our poles and power lines, to inclement weather. On average, we have about 2,000 of our customers who experience an outage for some reason on New Year's Day, so there's no reason to assume an outage is Y2K-related." Power outages should be reported to Detroit Edison by calling 800-477-4747. Since the inception of the Y2K program in 1996, as many as 700 people have worked to inventory, assess, repair or replace, and test about 140,000 critical software programs and susceptible devices involved in Detroit Edison operations to generate and distribute electricity. More than 30 million lines of computer code have been involved in the testing. Besides attaining its level of Y2K readiness, Detroit Edison has received collateral benefits from the company's Y2K program, which will improve productivity and operational excellence, strengthen external relations and defer or eliminate future expenditures. "Vigorous Y2K program standards have been implemented in other programs, cost savings have been created by extending the life of some company application systems and we've institutionalized testing and documentation standards that will improve the quality of other company projects," Childs said. Detroit Edison also has worked with major utility industry associations and organizations, as well as customers, vendors and key units of government, to gather and share information on Y2K issues. In addition, Detroit Edison also is in close contact with suppliers critical to company operations and has continually assessed their progress on Year 2000. For more information about Detroit Edison's Y2K program, call toll-free 888-464-3376, or visit Detroit Edison on its Website -- http://www.detroitedison.com

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-- Anonymous, December 22, 1999