When Folkstone Council suffered a major power failure due to a supply cable fault, they had to resort to a generator being brought in for emergency power. The problem was that lightning did strike twice - the generator also developed a fault and the failures occured at one of the busiest times for the council - just when the council tax bills had gone out. The case shows that power problems though sometimes intermittent are beyond the control of the organisations involved.

The threat of grid shutdowns came even closer today with the announcement that we had hit a specific threshold level in gas supply - an amber alert level was reached. For more information click Business Telegraph. Within 20 years we have gone from a country rich in its own natural gas and oil to one that is now an importer with power supply problems. The next 20 years could see our coal fields reopened as the UK struggles for its independence in enery and power generation.

This story follows on from the other ones we have shown which highlight how local councils respond to power failures. Bracknell Forest Borough Council recently experienced a hugh power failure due to a local sub-station fault. The power failure affected workers and homes alike but was brough under control fairly quickly thanks to the council’s business continuity plans.

Even though the plan brought the council back on-line the next day there is no doubt that the deployment of uninterruptible power supplies and generators would have helped the council to run throughout the power down and ensure that services remained on-line.

Another hospital suffers power problems and has to close its accident and emergency facilities. This piece on the website for Havering Live again shows the effect of a simple power cut and the need for a good business continuity plan.

We picked up this piece by market researchers Frost and Sullivan on the PR Newswire on the growth in UK Hospitals for UPS are becoming the product of choice. The press release cites consultation and brand awareness as being the drivers that will lead to increased UPS provision.

The effects of a simple power failure are always under estimated. This is a tragic story of how people were stranded in the top floor of a London care home as a power failure struck.

The greater emphasis on duty of care and health and safety for customers and employers places even greater pressures on all managers to investigate their business continuity plans and make sure that they have local standby power generation in place for such eventualities.

We often only think about business and public sector organisations when the mains fails. This report by Richmond District Council highlights a number of issues in the community at large caused by a loss of power. Simple things often go wrong in a crisis. This reports highlights the weakness of automated telephone systems which became overloaded and jammed due to the unprecedented number of calls. For more information read the Scrutiny Power Failure Report.

It is always amazing how power failures can disrupt even the most benign of events. Here’s a posting about the major power failure in Bournemouth last Tuesday and its effect on the Landsdowne campus. For more information read the Bournemouth and Poole Power Failure.”

Cumberland seems to have had its fair share of power problems this year. The latest, caused by a system fault left over 7,000 properties without power. 5,000 homes were initially hit by a network trip, but engineers then lost power to another 2,000 properties as they tried to fix the problem. A spokesman for United Utilities is quoted as saying: “With any distribution network you do get problems from time to time”. For more information read the Cumberland News piece.”

East Lothian Today ran a piece about how on October 15 2,000 households were affected by a major power outage. The initial suspect was a plane striking a pylon but this was quickly thrown out as a theory. Scottish Power now think that the evidence points towards a bird strike. I am reminded of Alfred Hitchcocks ‘The Birds’. For the full story click here.

The BBC are running a power failure in Africa competition which closes on 31st October 2005. They want to hear from people whose lives have be changed by power failure.