Bermudian companies have spent nearly $20 million making sure the Millennium bug did not bite.

Together the two main banks, the Government, BELCO, Bermuda Telephone Company and ACE Ltd have revealed to The Royal Gazette just how much they spent on making their systems Y2K compliant, taking the figure to $18.4 million.

The money was spent checking all computers in the organisations so that they did not freeze when the clocks ticked over from 99 to 00, making the system believe it was 1900 instead of 2000.

The Bank of Bermuda spent $3.5 million, Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son $2.3 million, BELCO Holdings $5 million, ACE $4 million, BTC $2.6 million, while the government estimates it spent about $1 million.

So far there have been no major Y2K problems and the roll-over passed without problems. Barry Shailer president and CEO of the Bank of Bermuda noted that a true cost is difficult to arrive at because many projects were put on hold as the Y2K issue assumed priority.

He disclosed that his bank spent $3.5 million, although $4 million was actually allocated.

Mr. Shailer said: "It is difficult to calculate the cost in terms of diversion from other work, but the money spent was spent necessarily.

"A large part of those funds would have been spent on routine upgrades, the cost was not incremental, it was accelerated.'' Bank of Butterfield CEO Calum Johnston agreed the real cost was difficult to calculate but said his organisation had spent about $2.3 million.

"It is very difficult to calculate exactly what was spent because in preparing for Y2K we upgraded systems that needed to be upgraded but under normal circumstances might not have been done until after Y2K.

"Also staff costs for time spent on Y2K cannot be calculated accurately as it is impossible to calculate the opportunity cost of them not being able to focus on other things.

"Our best estimate of the cost to the Butterfield Group is about $2.3 million, not including the cost of the party we are holding for our staff on 18 February to thank them for hard work and celebrate our success.'' BELCO Holdings reported an investment of $5 million which included upgrades to all their core systems and a number of replacements over the past three years.

A company spokesperson said: "We recognised early on the potential for the Y2K issue to disrupt our systems and our operations, and ultimately impact the entire Island.

"We took a serious and organised approach to the issue. Like much of the Island, the rollover from December 31, 1999 to January 2000 was entirely successful for the BELCO Holdings group.'' A Bermuda Telephone Company spokesperson revealed that the Y2K compliance cost the company $2.6 million over the past 2 years and included upgrades on internal software, the directory assistance system and all wireless services.

Government cabinet secretary Leo Mills noted that bills are still coming in and that a final tally will not take place until sometime in March but he estimated that Government spent close to $1 million in their system upgrades.

Just as the banks and utilities noted, Mr. Mills said much of the changes made were already planned improvements.

But businesses stressed that they will not breathe a total sigh of relief until March 1, but they have said they are not expecting major problems.

Glitches that might arise due to the leap year, are not anticipated to cause companies to have to make excessive monetary outlays.

Mr. Shailer also headed up Bermuda's Y2K steering committee which focused on the Island's readiness for the rollover. He said he did not think Bermudian companies had overreacted or overspent.

Y2K EXPENDITURE Belco Holdings ----$5m Ace ----$4m Bank of Bermuda ----$3.5m BTC ----$2.6m Bank of Butterfield ----$2.3m Government ----$1m Calum Johnston Barry Shailer