Clocks will be moving forward earlier and back later this year. As part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 passed by the U.S. Congress, Daylight Saving Time will start three weeks earlier and end one week later starting in 2007. Canada, as a close trading partner of the U.S., is following suit. This year, Daylight Saving Time will start on March 11 and end on Nov. 4.

In preparation for the change, TransCanada’s Information Services team will be upgrading affected systems prior to March 11. “We’ve known about the date change for some time and were able to develop a plan early on,” says Amy Law, project manager, IS Project Management Office. Some information systems that are affected by the time change have already been updated. Other systems are being upgraded over the next few weeks.

Mexico will not be following the new Daylight Saving Time 2007 rules with the U.S. and Canada. Accordingly such systems configured to use U.S. time zones (for example, Pacific Time) will need to change their system configurations to use the new Mexico time zones.

Fast facts:

• Benjamin Franklin, while a minister to France, first suggested the idea in an essay titled "An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light." The essay was first published in the Journal de Paris in April 1784.
• More than one billion people in about 70 countries around the world observe Daylight Saving Time in some form.
• Most countries near the equator don't deviate from standard time.
• Daylight Saving Time affects all of the United States except Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and all of Canada except Saskatchewan and northeastern B.C.
• Japan, India and China do not follow Daylight Savings Time.
• Contrary to popular belief, Daylight Saving Time was not created for farmers nor does it benefit farmers.