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by Dominique Deckmyn

BRUSSELS (IDG) -- The Y2K preparations made by a French electric utility are helping it cope with storm-caused power outages.

On Tuesday, 3.4 million French utility customers were left without power after a succession of unusually harsh storms. Power lines were severed by falling trees, and two power plants, one of them nuclear, were cut off from the main power grid.

Enlarged stand-by teams and improved communications that were in place for addressing Y2K have helped state-owned Electricité de France (EDF) react faster to the power outages caused by the storms, said Eric Morlot, a member of EDF's Y2K team.

On Wednesday, EDF said power had been restored to all but 1.9 million people. An EDF spokesperson said the company couldn't guarantee that electricity would be restored to the whole country before Dec. 31.

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Morlot said the storm troubles wouldn't affect the energy company's own Y2K preparations, which had been largely completed after a final test Dec. 1. Pierre-Yves le Bihan, CEO of Cigref, an industry group that represents France's 100 largest enterprises, said Cigref members were ready for Y2K, but the outage "will not make it easier for small and medium-size enterprises to complete their [Y2K] tests."

Andy Kyte, research director at Gartner Group Inc. in London, said that because of the Y2K emergency measures "they were extremely well prepared" when the storms struck. "The damage inflicted by the storms [on the power system] is infinitely greater than any damage that could be inflicted by Y2K," Kyte pointed out.

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Kyte said he doubted many companies were counting on last-minute tests to solve remaining Y2K issues. "There's basically two groups: those that are ready, and those that are just going to address problems as they arise," he said. Kyte added that France may have been headed for Y2K trouble over the end of the year, regardless of the government's state of readiness. "The public sector was slow to react [to Y2K]," he said. "And in France, in excess of 54% of [gross domestic product] is public-sector."

Kyte said the storms may end up benefiting authorities in the eventuality of any Y2K breakdowns. "People will be extremely happy to get electricity back" and won't be surprised if some government institutions aren't working properly in the new year, said Kyte.