ALLENTOWN, Pa.---PP&L, Inc. successfully completed its part in a nationwide electric industry drill conducted late Wednesday (9/8) and early Thursday (9/9) testing contingency plans in preparation for the year 2000 rollover, including the use of backup communications and data systems.
The drill was viewed as a realistic prelude to the Year 2000 New Year's Eve rollover because it coincided with the date rollover to 9/9/99. Some old computer programs used a series of "9s" to signify the end of a file, so this date represented a potential for a computer program to shut down. However, going into the drill, PP&L said its readiness program had found no actual problems associated with those kinds of files.
In addition, the drill was designed to have no effect on the delivery of electricity to PP&L customers.
"PP&L remains confident that Y2K concerns have been fully addressed and that customers can be reassured that the electrical system will be unaffected when the calendar rolls over to the year 2000," said Robert M. Geneczko, PP&L's vice president of Power Delivery.
PP&L was among nearly 500 electric utilities throughout the United States and Canada that participated in the drill sponsored by the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC). According to a statement released by NERC earlier today, no Y2K problems occurred, all electric systems transitioned normally into Sept. 9, and no electric customers were affected as North America experienced five midnights.
The drill simulated various hypothetical circumstances, including the loss of equipment that normally provides information electronically from some substations about equipment status, electricity flow and alarms.
"This was a good training opportunity to test contingency plans that have been developed as part of PP&L's overall preparation for the Y2K rollover," said William H. Whitehead, manager of Transmission and Distribution Operations at PP&L. "We demonstrated that we can operate our electricity delivery system even when faced with possible impaired communications between our control center and key outlying facilities."
Employees from PP&L's Mobile Work Force relayed readings from major substations via radio or fiber-optic telephones into the Transmission Control Center at the Lehigh Service Center. Operators at the center then transmitted this information to the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland interconnection office in Valley Forge using a satellite telephone link. Because this was a drill, actual readings from the system were available to operators. Whitehead said the readings from the substations matched the actual information available electronically.
PP&L also tested a radio communications link between the Transmission Control Center and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency in Harrisburg.
Although the success of this drill is a significant milestone, training and preparations for the actual Y2K rollover will continue this fall as PP&L continues to practice using the backup communications systems.
PP&L announced July 1 that all of its systems involved in the production and delivery of power to customers are ready for the year 2000 rollover.
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Certain statements contained in this news release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of federal securities laws. Although PP&L Resources believes that the expectations reflected in these statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct. These forward-looking statements involve a number or risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements should be considered in conjunction with PP&L Resources' documents on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, the information contained in this news release constitutes a "Year 2000 Statement" and/or a "Year 2000 Readiness Disclosure" by PP&L within the meaning of the Year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act, P.L. 105-271, 1998 S.2392.