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Power Outages: So Many Ways to Drain Your Business Wallet

Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

Power Outages: So Many Ways to Drain Your Business Wallet

 
July 10, 2014

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  By Tara Seals, Contributing Writer

Let’s face it, the weather is not exactly a kindly entity in the United States, having been known to cause natural disasters on a fairly regular basis. Think about it, and the threats become myriad: Thunderstorms; Tornados; Flooding; Fires; Earthquakes; Hurricanes; Snowstorms; Windstorms. And with them all, more often than not, come the inevitable power outages, which can cause significant economic damage to victims, even after the initial physical damage is done.


It’s not just extreme weather to consider, either: there have been increases in the severity of power outages of late thanks to increased demand on the grid (overactive air conditioners due to excessive heat can even be an issue). And yet, most people think of them as being four-hours-or-less affairs: a nuisance, but not much more. The reality though, is that extended blackouts are more and more the norm, and even shorter incidents can cause notable financial harm to businesses and consumers.

Take, for instance, a recent outage at Salem, NH’s Canobie Lake Park, which left visitors stranded on several of the park’s attractions. Backup generators kicked in after a few minutes, allowing all rides to return their passengers without incident, but customer fear and dissatisfaction cannot be underestimated. The park described it as a “hiccup,” but some say this has lessons for others.

“In other businesses, a stoppage like this can lead to significant losses,” explained Minuteman Power Technologies’ Duston Nixon, in a blog. “Even a few minutes of downtime can lead to unsatisfied customers, lost orders, or even halted production lines. Fortunately, both small and large UPSs exist to bridge the gap between utility and generator.”

Whether short- or long-term, there are many ways that a power outage can cost victims a lot of money. For instance, take restaurants, which run on razor-thin margins at the best of times. The USDA recommends throwing away refrigerated foods stored for more than two hours at over 40 degrees Fahrenheit — turning the literal bread-and-butter into a major cost center.

There’s also the damage to consider when maintenance electrics aren’t working, like the sump pump in the basement, de-humidifiers, and air-conditioning and heat. Extended outages for any of these can lead to thousands of dollars of damage from moisture and mold, or bursting pipes.

Stop-gap measures to wait out the blackout can also run costly at business scale. To keep the doors open, batteries, radios and flashlights will be required—all of which can add up quickly.

Then there’s the simple issue of loss of income in case the doors can’t stay open. Sending employees home and being unable to do business while the lights are off is one of the biggest business-killers there is.

Nixon offers some advice. “At the workstation level, standby and line interactive UPSs represent a cost-effective means of keeping computers humming, files saving, and phones ringing,” it noted. “These units can pay for themselves the first time the power goes off by preventing lost time and damage to critical hardware.”

He added, “For a more efficient option, single and 3-phase double conversion, or online, UPSs can provide a centralized backup solution for an entire network infrastructure, or even an entire building. These units can provide a stop-gap between the outage and the generator, and provide complete protection against the sometimes inconsistent power that these machines can provide.”

 
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