Power cuts are more common than we thought
If you work in a critical hospital, data centre or bank, you want to think that power cuts are rare. Official statistics from the network operators themselves (DNOs) show that this is not the case. Right now there are numerous outages in your area.
Power cuts are more common than we like to think. Backup generators only work when you feed them clean fuel.
You can view the current report for your area using on of the links in the table below.
| Area | DNO |
| North Scotland, Southern England | SSE Power Distribution |
| Central and Southern Scotland, Merseyside, North Wales, Cheshire and North Shropshire | SP Energy Networks |
| North East England | Northern Powergrid |
| North West England | Electricity North West |
| East and West Midlands, South Wales and South West England | Western Power Distribution |
| Eastern and South East England and London | UK Power Networks |
| Northern Ireland | Northern Ireland Electricity |
On the day of writing there were around 80 power cuts taking place across the UK affecting hundreds of properties.
It is important to strike a balance between the number of power cuts shown in these reports and the likelihood that you will be affected. Although numerous, the power cuts affect a relatively small proportion of businesses and consumers. They can also be localised around problem parts of the network.
In 2011, DNO’s were fined £3.4 million for customer interruptions and customer minutes lost. You can download the Ofgem report from the link on the right of this page (refer to the table on page 25).
Clean fuel is the key to coping with power cuts
With so many outages it is more important than ever to ensure your backup generators work reliably.
It’s very possible that the diesel you have stored for your backup power is suffering from contamination. This contamination could be in the form of water, solid particulates or diesel bug.
The key to maintaining clean fuel and being prepared for power cuts is a fuel conditioning programme. This will keep your fuel within the EN590 clean fuel standards and will ensure reliable power from your generators.