Seattle City Light Reports It's Electrons as Usual as Millennium Rolls In

Business Wire, Jan 1, 2000

Business Editors

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 1, 2000

Seattle City Light reports that its electrical system is operating normally after the much-awaited Y2K rollover in the Pacific Time zone. The smooth rollover ensures business as usual and reliable electric service for Seattle City Light's customers.

The municipal utility began planning for operations in the new century back in 1995 and spent just over $4.5 million on the efforts. The electrical industry has been in the forefront of preparation for the Y2K transition. City Light had already rolled a large part of its system over into the year 2000. The System Control Center computers operate on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) which had its rollover at 4:00 PM. Computers continued to operate normally after the GMT time point passed.

City Light representatives monitored the impact of the rollover on utilities, starting in New Zealand in the early hours of December 31. Utility representatives all over the world monitored the Internet to check on the few components that reported problems with the rollover. None of the defective parts were related to those within the City Light system. Two hundred twenty utility employees were at work during the rollover. Others in the utility's workforce of 1,700 remained on call.

"City Light's smooth rollover to the year 2000 shows that our extensive preparations and contingency plans have been very successful," said Gary Zarker, City Light's Superintendent." We planned for electrons as usual in the year 2000. Our dedicated work force and the cooperation of our customers helped to make this a reality."