The sector-specific risks of winter power cuts

Date: 21/02/25

Businesses in the UK experience power disruptions due to a variety of factors, from infrastructure issues and severe weather to planned outages. 

Every business is vulnerable to power interruptions, but the risks and consequences can vary depending on the type of organisation and location. In this blog, we highlight some of the unique challenges facing certain sectors and why organisations within them particularly need to ensure they are prepared against power cuts.

Healthcare

Hospitals, residential care homes, hospices, and other healthcare facilities need continuous power to operate critical medical equipment and administrative systems. A power outage can be a matter of life or death – potentially life-threatening for patients on life support systems or undergoing surgery.

Education

Colleges and higher education facilities, university campuses, and boarding schools need reliable power for the safety and well-being of students and staff. It’s also important to have backup options in place to avoid disruptions to academic progress. For example, if a server goes down, a student could lose their hard work, miss deadlines, or lose out on valuable teaching time, impacting their results.

Hospitality and leisure

Hotels, restaurants, and event venues rely on large amounts of power to provide services to guests. For example, many popular wedding venues are in coastal or rural areas such as the Lake District, which is particularly vulnerable to seasonal weather outages. Losing power during such an expensive, once-in-a-lifetime event could lead to poor reviews, future cancellations, and lack of bookings, causing reputational and financial damage.

Local Councils

With the responsibility for maintaining public infrastructure, everything from traffic lights to emergency communications systems must stay operational. The consequences of an outage could range from traffic jams to delayed emergency response times, which would have severe implications for public safety.

Office buildings

Commercial office properties need critical life safety systems in place, such as emergency lighting and smoke extraction. Having backup generators in place is crucial, as power failure would endanger the workers in the building, potentially leading to legal and financial repercussions.

Private residential and student accommodation

A power cut in residential buildings can leave occupants in unsafe conditions, without heating or lighting. A lack of lighting can cause risk of injury, especially if there is a need to evacuate. In high-rise accommodation, elevators and fire alarms may become non-operational, adding to the risks.

How to prepare for power cuts

No matter what sector you operate in, a helpful first step is to conduct a thorough risk assessment. By identifying the organisation’s power needs, and understanding which critical systems need to remain operational in an outage, you can make a much more informed decision on back-up power options.

If a back-up system isn’t already in place, the next step is to choose a generator that best suits the business’ specific needs and mitigates the unique threats.

However, simply having a generator in place isn’t enough to protect against power cuts. They need regular maintenance and testing to function properly during an emergency. Without this, there is a risk that they could fail at the most crucial moment.

There are some simple and essential steps you can take to avoid these threats. Firstly, ensure your generator is always in peak condition by conducting regular testing, inspecting the parts and replacing them where necessary, and checking the fuel and oil levels.

It’s also key to train any staff with responsibility for operating and maintaining the generator, so they know how to check it, the proper procedure for an unexpected power cut, and how to quickly and safely troubleshoot any issues.    

At Central Power Services, we’ve been helping organisations of all types and across the UK to protect against power outages for over 30 years.

For bespoke advice from one of our experts, please get in touch

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