Solar electric companies around the country are reporting spikes in sales attributed partly to people feeling Y2K jitters. Chris Mueller says she's been concerned about the environmental impact of her own energy consumption for years, but it was the so-called millennium bug that prompted her to do something about it. Pa. Others nationwide apparently are of a like mind. Solar electric companies around the country are reporting spikes in sales attributed partly to people feeling Y2K jitters. Some believe the bug will cause the nation's power grids to crash when clocks strike midnight on Jan. 1, leading to blackouts.
Power companies say they have the situation under control.
Utilities say a nationwide test of their systems on April 9 revealed no serious problems. But only backup communication systems were tested, not generators or transmission lines. Some authorities expect any Y2K electrical problems to be minimal, comparable to the brief outages following storms. Wallace Reynolds, a spokesman for Arizona's Salt River Project, the nation's third-largest utility company, said customers will need nothing more than a flashlight and a candle. Still, some aren't reassured and that's where the alternatives come in.