If you are running a business that relies on electricity - and apart from farmers and gardeners, who isn’t? – there are some things that you need to know if the power goes down. We take electricity for granted, but the way the world is going it is very likely that there will be many more power shortages in future.
What with the lack of oil and gas from Russia and the fact that, in the UK at least, we are not going to have new fossil fuel-run cars from 2030, we are going to need more electricity than we are using now. Add to that the fact that our government doesn’t want to begin fracking, and we are heading towards the day when the lights going out will be a regular occurrence.
This is why more and more businesses – and families as well – are investing in generators in order to provide continuing electricity when the power goes down.
When, not if, it does, there are some things that you need to do if you don’t have a generator. The first is to switch off appliances when the power goes down. If you have a laptop, you can run it on the battery, of course. But you need to switch appliances off because when the power comes back on there can be a power surge. This can cause damage to the appliances. It is OK to leave a light on because that will tell you when the power is restored.
Check with your neighbours, whether business or other residents. If they have power, the issue is likely to be in your own home or business, soyou will need to call an electrician.
There is a free service in England, Scotland, and Wales which you can call on 105 on your mobile. This can give you information regarding a power cut in your area and an estimate of when the power will be back on.
If you run a business, you may also want to call important customers to let them know that you have an issue. You can also do this using your business social media.
Of course, the perfect answer is to invest in a backup generator for your home or business connected to an automatic changeover switch. This means that when the power goes down, the automatic changeover switch will instantly fire up the generator, and when it is up and running switch from mains to generator. So, you will only be without power for a matter of seconds.
