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Allegheny Power
Alan Staggers, a spokesman for Allegheny Power, says, “They’ve been Y2K ready since the end of June. We are taking extra precautions. We are prepared to deal with what are typical power outages. People are going to have heightened sensitivities to normal outages. We want to report the true cause of all outages that night.”
TVpically, on a Friday night at midnight, the company will have 75 employees on staff. But on the evening of Dec. 31, 1200 employees will be working. Staggers says, “The plans (for Y2K) are slight modifications of plans that we’ve had in place for years.”
Ever since the blackout in New York City in the late 1960’s, all utility companies have devised what is known as a “black star plan.” These plans have been operational for decades and are designed to bring a system up from being completely shut down.
Rappahannock Electric
Company
Renee Daniels, communications specialist for Rappahannock Electric Company, says, “Our systems are all ready to go, but we do have a contingency plan in place.”
On Dec. 31 from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. the company will have an additional 85 people working in their offices located in Culpeper, Fredericksburg and Bowling Green. They will be responsible for monitoring their systems and ensuring continuous operations.
The company has invested in a satellite communications phone system in order to communicate with all 16 of their emergency preparedness offices in case of an outage due to Y2K.
The company is asking people to prepare as if for a winter storm by having three days of food and supplies on hand.
And Daniels says, “Our biggest fear is that a snow storm will coincide with the date change and people will think it’s Y2K related.”
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