Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Entergy Y2K Compliant

Entergy has announced that it has completed the work necessary to prepare its electrical system to function as normal throughout the transition from 1999 to 2000 Y2K compliance.

All components essential to the company's ability to provide the basic services of generating and delivering electricity and conducting routine account management activities are Y2K-ready, Charlie Briscoe, director of Entergy's office of the year 2000, reports.

"After addressing the Y2K problem very aggressively for nearly four years and allocating more than $70 million to eradicating the Y2K bug from our systems, we're confident that Entergy's electricity business will operate on January 1 just as it does any other day," said Briscoe.

Between now and the end of the year, Entergy will be refining and practicing contingency plans, should expected problems arise, said Johnny Ervin, Entergy's vice president of customer service support.

Numerous extra Entergy employees will be on the job at midnight December 31. "We're confident our system will sail into year 2000 without a hitch, but we're prepared for any unanticipated equipment failures. We have contingency plans for dozens of scenarios," said Ervin. "We're confident, but we're careful."

Entergy is cooperating with industry regulators and other utilities to manage potential issues affecting the stability of the nation's integrated electric network, the power grid.

Entergy also has ongoing communication with key suppliers, such as fuel and telecommunication providers, to assess their readiness to supply products and services in to the year 2000 and beyond.

Entergy's Y2K readiness program will stay intact well into the year 2000 to further manage and monitor the company's critical systems.

More information on Entergy's Y2K preparedness, as well as several links to sites containing extensive additional Y2K information, may be found at www.entergy.com/y2k

Entergy, headquartered in New Orleans, La., is a U.S.-based global energy company with power production, distribution operations and related diversified services. Entergy owns, manages or invests in power plants generating nearly 30,000 megawatts of electricity domestically and internationally. Entergy distributes energy to more than 2.5 million customers in the U.S.