The average blackout in Canada last year lasted 147 minutes. Could your business last that long without electricity?
That’s one of the questions raised by the 2012 Blackout Tracker Annual Report released by Eaton, a developer of backup power UPS solutions. The data shows that over 600,000 people were affected by power outages in Canada in 2012, with Ontario leading the way, followed by British Columbia. On average, 9,561 people were affected for 147 minutes per outage in 2012.
Eaton’s report highlighted these three incidents as among the most significant outages of 2012:
- Vancouver, BC: On March 12, fierce winds toppled trees and let about 110,000 customers without power, with nearly 90,000 of those affected on Vancouver Island.
- Montérégie, QC: On July 24, significant storms and nasty weather triggered some 80,000 outages, many of which were caused by circuit breaker trips.
- Ottawa, ON: On November 11, Hydro One reported whipping winds caused more than 200 outages affecting some 75,000 customers across the province.
With most businesses relying on electricity to operate, a two-hour shutdown could be costly. Having highlighted the problem, Eaton of course has a solution: uninterruptible power systems (UPSs) and generators are designed to reliably deliver power during outages. Eaton offers a portfolio of data centre products that store, cool, power, manage and secure mission-critical data centre technology.
If your business can’t afford to be down for 147 minutes, ensuring you have backup in place is advisable.