Blackout blind spots: is your business overlooking its biggest risk?
For a start-up or small business, one of your biggest yet overlooked risks is a power blackout. If the force behind everything you do goes out, what do you need to consider?
The business founder of yesterday could patiently ride out a power cut. But in today’s interconnected world, businesses must make sure they’re still able to run, even when the lifeline is temporarily cut.
Island-wide power cuts are extremely rare, but if power does go out in your area, your business needs proactive resilience. The very technology we need to progress has paradoxically made business more vulnerable – from your small firm to the financial institution you bank with.
Since we all depend on technology, everyone has a personal stake in a strong, reliable supply, whether they realise it or not.
Here we explore how your small business can prepare and shed light on what Guernsey Electricity can do to reduce this business risk.
The dark side of power loss
It goes without saying that power cuts could equal immediate loss of revenue. Customers can’t be served, websites can’t be accessed, payments can’t be made, and work piles up.
For some businesses, there’s also more insidious, unseen threats such as data loss and corruption.
A business without an “uninterrupted power supply” (UPS) means servers and computers may shut down improperly, which could lead to file corruption, lost customer information, or system failure. When we rely so heavily on digital records, is this risk worth taking?
Plus there are supply chain and operational disruptions, and a single link going offline has a ripple effect. As part of that chain, it’s important you’re able to adapt quickly to reduce the impact on your clients.
The biggest risk isn’t the blackout – it’s not being ready for one.
Taking charge of your blackout
Power cut preparation is a decision that can pay dividends long before any power is lost.
- Invest in a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). For your most critical systems – be it your servers, routers, POS terminals or key workstations – a UPS is non-negotiable. During a power cut, a UPS gives you a window of power to function and/or shut down safely to prevent equipment damage or data loss. For larger operations, a back-up fossil-fuel generator is also an option.
- Make sure your installations are regularly inspected by an electrician
- Consider battery storage. This more sustainable, longer-lasting backup system may be a key ally to help serve customers while your competition is still offline.
- Robust data backup protocol. This is your ultimate insurance policy, with data copies stored both on-site and in the cloud.
- Consider moving off-peak. Actively play a part in avoiding conditions that may lead to a power cut by shifting some energy usage where possible to off-peak hours - that’s between 10am and 4:30pm, or ideally 11pm and 5am.
If you’d like to find out more battery storage, give our team a call on 01481 241984.
What is guernsey electricity doing to help local business?
Reliable power is the lifeblood of our island, and our challenge is to balance constantly changing demand with a limited power supply.
Around 90% of our electricity is imported from the European grid through a subsea cable that has been busy reducing our on-island carbon emissions for the last 25 years. But a single cable is in itself a risk, so this is something that needs to be managed.
Top up and back up
Between October and March, island demand usually exceeds the 60 Megawatts (MW) the cable can import from Europe, which is when we use the Vale power station to top up demand. If we were unable to use the cable from France, our engineers have the power station ready to roll with enough fuel on-island to supply power for four weeks. The gas turbines can start-up in minutes to quickly bring power back up, giving the larger heavy fuel oil generators the chance to fire up and take over, ready to reignite the whole island.
On 2 September 2019 at 09:02am, we experienced an island-wide power outage. Generators at the Vale power station were able to restore power by 09:30am. This event reinforced the need for a secure, reliable connection and we’ll continue to progress a second cable connection to further enhance the security of Guernsey’s electricity supply.
Alongside a network of power cables quietly working beneath our feet, we also employ a workforce dedicated to making sure islanders receive power on demand, 24/7. During any power cut, our on-site team and on-call engineers work really hard to uncover the faults and fix them as quickly and safely as possible.
We measure power outages through a metric called ‘customer minutes lost’ (CML) to help us understand and improve our service. During 2024, CML was reduced to under 27 minutes, which means on average, our customers experienced less than half an hour of power loss during those 12 months. This demonstrates how our teams were able to provide a very reliable service, with average power cuts a rare and brief occurrence for most people.
Our energy evolution
Network resilience will always be a boardroom staple for the duration of Guernsey Electricity’s existence, and in the next few years, we’re exploring ways to make sure we continue to be a reliable service. This includes exploring a second subsea cable connection to Europe, which is a key component of the States of Guernsey’s Electricity Strategy. Plus incorporating more on-island renewables such as solar power and looking into other emerging technologies to help make sure your business can stay competitive.
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