Electric Co are turning power off on a working day
Discussion
Looking for a bit of advice, our electric supply company have just told us that they will be turning our power off all day next week.
It's for them to trim some trees that are in contact with the overhead lines which is fine.
But why can't they do this on a weekend or overnight?
Obviously without electric the company I work for can't function, no phones, computers, workshop work etc.
Anyone been in a similar situation? Can they do this without offering us a backup supply/generator?
Or do we have to organise our own backup supply?
It's for them to trim some trees that are in contact with the overhead lines which is fine.
But why can't they do this on a weekend or overnight?
Obviously without electric the company I work for can't function, no phones, computers, workshop work etc.
Anyone been in a similar situation? Can they do this without offering us a backup supply/generator?
Or do we have to organise our own backup supply?
Had this happen twice for our business , rural office, 20 staff . Elec company advise that it is essential maintainence so gave us about a week or under notice each time! We are a financial consultancy working to tight deadlines , so can't afford to shutdown , let alone at short notice .
The first time I got a generator in as it was 2 days downtime , along with a suppressor as it was mainly powering servers and PCs , was ok but expensive and tr consuming , it meant we could carry on.
The second time which was recently , I spoke to the guy managing the ptoject and negotiated the downtime down from a day of being off to half a day . They were quite helpful , in the end they only had it off for an hour . We got staff to take the morning off then work late . Was still a ballache though shutting down loads of IT equipment and then powering it all up.
Best advice I could give is to speak to the person managing the wor to see if you can change the times or sort a compromise
On the plus side it's to usually replace cables that look like they will fail soon, so at least they don't fail unexpectedly . Just read it's cause of tree cutting , sooner or later they'll fall/earth the cables and leaving you powerless
The first time I got a generator in as it was 2 days downtime , along with a suppressor as it was mainly powering servers and PCs , was ok but expensive and tr consuming , it meant we could carry on.
The second time which was recently , I spoke to the guy managing the ptoject and negotiated the downtime down from a day of being off to half a day . They were quite helpful , in the end they only had it off for an hour . We got staff to take the morning off then work late . Was still a ballache though shutting down loads of IT equipment and then powering it all up.
Best advice I could give is to speak to the person managing the wor to see if you can change the times or sort a compromise
On the plus side it's to usually replace cables that look like they will fail soon, so at least they don't fail unexpectedly . Just read it's cause of tree cutting , sooner or later they'll fall/earth the cables and leaving you powerless
Edited by TwistingMyMelon on Thursday 1st October 22:57
Thanks for the reply Twisting.
I'm not dealing with this directly and it's been very busy today so the person trying to get answers hasn't told me what is happening.
As you say it's better than an unexpected power cut but I still think they could do the work over a weekend or overnight.
I had a quick look at generators, they are not cheap!
I'll try to remember to update this with what happens in case it could help others in the future.
I'm not dealing with this directly and it's been very busy today so the person trying to get answers hasn't told me what is happening.
As you say it's better than an unexpected power cut but I still think they could do the work over a weekend or overnight.
I had a quick look at generators, they are not cheap!
I'll try to remember to update this with what happens in case it could help others in the future.
What does your company have in place to prevent any downtime for when an unexpected power cut happens? UPS? generator? Nothing?
Generally I have found power companies to be very good when it comes to dropping power, they are governed to times they are allowed to be off and times of fixes. The last time A power company told us they needed to drop power we where off for 30 mins. It was no problem thou as we have UPS systems and generator back up.
Its a bit like saying we have one internet provider to run a business and no back up circuit incase we have a fault with primary provider.
Generally I have found power companies to be very good when it comes to dropping power, they are governed to times they are allowed to be off and times of fixes. The last time A power company told us they needed to drop power we where off for 30 mins. It was no problem thou as we have UPS systems and generator back up.
Its a bit like saying we have one internet provider to run a business and no back up circuit incase we have a fault with primary provider.
Edited by Mikeyjae on Friday 2nd October 23:18
The last time I had this, I kicked up enough of a fuss, had the regional manager down to see me and persuaded him to lend me a genny and suppressor for the day to run the computer equipment and phone systems etc off. We had no lights etc, but still could operate which was worth having.
They turned up to delivery my genny and it was a brand spanking new unit they'd bought for this job.
They also didn't pick it up for a while after the day off - thought I had scored a nice bit of kit!
They turned up to delivery my genny and it was a brand spanking new unit they'd bought for this job.
They also didn't pick it up for a while after the day off - thought I had scored a nice bit of kit!
eliot said:
Invoke your business continuity plan - Which i suspect you dont have.
Hire a decent inverter genny and make sure any critical stuff like servers are on a UPS (which you should have already)
Good point re the business continuity. If this was an unforced power-off situation, what would your company do?Hire a decent inverter genny and make sure any critical stuff like servers are on a UPS (which you should have already)
There are numerous reasons for not operating at night, cutting trees in the dark around power lines sounds more than a little dangerous.
You guys are lucky they even tell you. Around here they just switch it off. Last week they were turning it off for 15 minutes and only informed the really big companies. Everyone else could basically go suck.It is a nightmare for any IT company. Not every computer ha a plugged in UPS.
Electric company say the date is fixed and can't be changed.
Staff have been offered a day off (as part of their holiday allowance) or come in a do whatever they can. I've opted to stop at home where the kettle will still work!
I suppose the only upside is that it has made managment think about a contingency plan in case of unexpected power cuts.
Staff have been offered a day off (as part of their holiday allowance) or come in a do whatever they can. I've opted to stop at home where the kettle will still work!
I suppose the only upside is that it has made managment think about a contingency plan in case of unexpected power cuts.
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