British businesses are suffering with thousands of pounds of lost business every year, thanks to power cuts and black outs. A new poll has found that small to medium sized businesses in the UK collectively spend 129.6 million hours in darkness every year.
The poll was conducted in order to investigate the unexpected hindrances to UK businesses, and the costs incurred by unreliable power supplies.
Firstly, all respondents were asked to estimate “How many hours have you spent without power, thanks to power cuts, in the last year?” to which the average answer given was 24 hours; equating to just over three average working days of seven and a half hours.
Considering that there are 5.4 million small to medium sized businesses in the UK, according to the House of Commons, this equates to 129.6 million hours that UK based SMEs spend without power. Just 5% stated that they did not experience any interruptions to their power during the last year.
The respondents were then asked to share how much they estimated that this had cost them, taking into account everything from lost business to wasted wages. The average business owner stated that their business lost out on £5,050 every year due to power cuts and shortages, while one respondent believed they lost in excess of £1million.
Ben Wilson, an energy expert at Gocompare.com, made the following comments about the results of the study: “A reliable power supply is hugely important for businesses; without it, income and operations can be hugely hindered and even jeopardised altogether. Everyone knows the inconveniences caused by power cuts in the home, but when a business is at stake a power cut is often enough to put a stop to all activity without being able to use computers, phone lines or various machinery. If a business is really suffering with power cuts, they can earn a bad reputation for missed deadlines, poor communication or disappointing service – at no fault of their own.”
