Agenda Date:  January 27, 1999
Item Number: 


Docket:  U-971835

Company Names: Administrative - General

Staff:   Jo Wadsworth, Yr. 2000 Project Coordinator
   Doug Kilpatrick, Electric Industry Coordinator
   Tom Spinks, Regulatory Consultant

Recommendations:

The Secretary should sign an order to :

1. Amend previously issued order to public utilities operating in Washington to 
adopt uniform reporting formats.  The electric companies should use the uniform 
reporting format developed by the North American Reliability Council (NERC) and 
adopted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and the 
telecommunications companies should use the uniform reporting format approved 
by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).  There is no uniform reporting 
format for gas operations; staff will work with those companies to develop 
mutually acceptable reporting guidelines.

2. Amend the order previously issued to regulated investor owned utilities 
operating in Washington to submit final contingency plans at later dates than 
previously ordered.  The dates for submission of final contingency plans should 
be:   April 30, 1999, for gas operations, May 30, 1999 for telecommunications 
operations, and June 30, 1999, for electric operations.  Companies with 
multiple operations should consult with Commission Staff for an acceptable 
filing deadline.

Discussion

On May 27, 1998, the Commission issued an order in Docket No. U-971835, 
requiring utility companies to submit quarterly status reports on their company 
year 2000 program implementation.  Since that time, affected companies have 
submitted three quarterly reports to the Commission.  Commission staff has 
reviewed the submitted reports for consistency and completeness of information 
and found these elements to be lacking.  This inconsistency and incompleteness 
of information may be due in part to the absence of any consistent reporting 
format requirements.

National entities have adopted reporting formats for year 2000 readiness 
reporting which most of the Commission regulated companies must use in 
reporting to the national level.  These reporting formats have also provided 
other states useful guidelines for adoption.  In terms of adequacy of 
information as well as minimization of filing requirements, Commission staff 
believes that it would be in the best interest of both the electric and 
telecommunications companies if these formats were adopted by the Commission.



Docket U-971835
January 27, 1999
Page 1

In addition, the Commission provided in its May 27, 1998, order that all named 
utilities operating in Washington submit contingency plans for the year 2000 
utility restoration.
At the time of the order, information regarding specific federal requirements 
for contingency plans and time lines were not available.  Currently, NERC has 
requires electric companies to file their contingency plans on June 30, 1999.  
In reviewing the contingency plans due to the Commission on December 30, 1998, 
it is clear that most of the utilities are in the beginning stages of 
contingency plan development. Extending the final contingency plan due date is 
also consistent with state and federal agency contingency planning efforts 
where plans are due June 30, 1999.  Allowing the companies additional time for 
developing and completing contingency plans will provide both the companies and 
the Commission with more complete information. Therefore staff recommends that 
the contingency plan dates be extended as discussed above.