A recent energy industry poll suggests oil and gas companies are drilling down hard on the Y2K issue. The American Petroleum Institute and Natural Gas Council surveyed over 800 companies and found three out of four respondents indicating they will be don e by June 1999. Only 14 percent are in the planning phase of the effort. NERC is an organization of ten regional electric councils. NERC indicates that Y2K may be less of a jolt to the North Am erican power system than previously feared, with fewer problems to solve and the fixes themselves easier to make.
Electrical systems consists mainly of wires and metal devices.
Most equipment is electromechanical, meaning there is less dependence on digital controls. NERC says very few date interpretation problems affect the ability to operate electric systems. Plans call for the active involvement of the SBA field offices, the Commerce Department's Manufacturing Extension S ervice, and Agriculture's Cooperative Extension Service. I am delighted that Uncle Sam has responded to ITAA's call for a federal Y2K awareness campaign. As part of the week, the event organizers are looking for Y2K success stories within the ranks of SMEs.