Be Ready for Business: Power Outage Guide for Small Firms
The government's Be Ready campaign tells households to keep three days of water, tinned food, a wind-up radio, a power bank and batteries. It has been running since October 2026 as a three-year programme with over 500 partner organisations. But there is no business version on the campaign website.
That is odd, because a firm is where continuity actually gets hard. A household can get through three days on tins and bottled water. A firm cannot. The card machine stops, the email will not send, the supplier's site has been offline since yesterday, and the one person who knows how the invoicing works is on holiday.
The household now has its checklist. The firm needs its own, and it does not need any fear attached to it. This is that checklist, mapped to the three windows a firm actually faces.
The cadence
Same three windows as the household advice, but mapped to what a firm actually has to do.
First 4 hours
The lights are off, the phones are on battery and nobody has decided anything yet. By the end of this window you should know what is still running, what is not, and who is allowed to make the call.
- Battery audit. What runs on battery, for how long, and who checks it. Card terminals, laptops, CCTV, the cold chain. Write the runtime next to each item.
- Temperature logging. Freezer and fridge temperatures, logged rather than guessed, so you know later what was lost and when. A thermometer reading every hour costs nothing.
- The close decision. Who decides to shut, and when. Write it down before you need it, not while the phone rings.
- Cash on premises. A card machine needs power, and a customer does not care whose fault the power is. Know your float.
- One message for staff, one for customers. Agreed in advance, so nobody is inventing it at 7am.
First 24 hours
Most of the neighbourhood is still off, and so are your suppliers and your bank. The firm is still trading or it is not, and either way it is writing things down.
- Staff. Pay, travel, who is working from where, and what is safe to ask them to do.
- Suppliers. Who can still deliver, who cannot, and which orders to move to another date.
- Your insurer. The notification call, made early, with times and photographs.
- Paper trading. Orders and invoices on paper, so a day of trading does not vanish with the till.
- Your backup, restored. A backup you have never restored is a hope, not a control. Test it now.
First week
The official restoration curve for a national power outage is blunt: about 60% of demand is back within two days, everyone by day five or six, and stability only beyond a week. Your till, your cold room, your card machine and your staff do not all come back on the same day.
- Cold chain decisions. What is salvageable and what must be discarded. The temperature logs tell you when the clock started.
- Staff rota and welfare. Who can work, who cannot, and what support they need.
- Customer communication. Regular updates on when you will reopen. Silence breeds uncertainty.
- Reconnection safety. Water, gas and electrics all need checking before trading resumes. Do not assume the pipes are clear.
Storm Darragh in winter 2024–25 left more than two million homes without power, and hundreds of customers were still disrupted a week later. None of this is dramatic. It is a week that costs money, and it could have been planned.
The ten checks
The free guide has ten checks, none of which cost anything, all of them written down before the bad morning rather than during it. They cover:
- Naming single points of failure
- Testing a backup restore
- Keeping an offline copy of money documents
- Having a second communication channel
- Being able to take payments offline
- Three days of supplies at home
- The one-page plan
- Power and battery audit
- Cold chain readiness
- Supplier and customer continuity
The full printable guide is free at fleurlamont.com/guide.html. Keep it by the till.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Be Ready campaign say about businesses?
The government's Be Ready campaign is written for households. It recommends three days of water, tinned food, a wind-up radio, a power bank and batteries. There is no dedicated business version on the campaign website. This page provides the business equivalent, based on the same official guidance and the NRR 2026 national power outage restoration timeline.
How long does a power outage last for a business?
According to the National Resilience Strategy 2026, about 60% of electricity demand is restored within two days, all customers by day five or six, and stability only beyond a week. Storm Darragh in winter 2024–25 left more than two million homes without power, with hundreds of customers still disrupted a week later. Your firm's worst day is usually the one after the household advice ends.
What should a small business do during a power cut?
In the first four hours, audit what runs on battery, log freezer and fridge temperatures, decide whether to close, check cash on premises, and send pre-agreed messages to staff and customers. In the first 24 hours, manage staff safety and pay, contact suppliers, call your insurer, record trading on paper, and restore your backup. Over the first week, follow the restoration curve, assess cold chain losses, rota staff, communicate with customers, and follow reconnection safety procedures.
Does my business need a backup generator?
Not necessarily. The ten checks that matter most cost nothing and are written down before the bad morning rather than during it. They include naming single points of failure, testing a backup restore, keeping offline copies of money documents, having a second communication channel, and being able to take payments offline. A generator is one possible control among many, and it does not replace the need for a written plan.
How do I restore my business after a power outage?
Follow the official restoration curve: about 60% of demand is back by day two, all by day five or six. Decide what cold chain stock is salvageable and what must be discarded. Rota staff and check their welfare. Communicate regularly with customers about when you will reopen. When power returns, follow reconnection safety procedures for water, gas and electrics before resuming trading. A written plan prepared before the event makes each of these decisions faster.
What is the official power outage restoration timeline in the UK?
The National Resilience Strategy 2026 sets out the expected restoration curve for a national power outage: approximately 60% of demand is restored within two days, all customers by day five or six, and stability only beyond a week. These timelines assume a major national event, not a local fault. Local faults are typically resolved much faster.
Where can I find the ten checks for business resilience?
There is a free one-page guide at fleurlamont.com/guide.html covering ten checks for digital and operational resilience. None of them cost anything. They cover backups, suppliers, power, cold chain, communication and the return. You can also book a ninety-minute resilience session at fleurlamont.com/session.html where the ten checks are completed for your firm on one page, with one backup tested.
Where this sits
This is the same discipline as the European Technology Risk Assessment: read the exposure honestly, name what is actually at stake, and decide the response before the event rather than during it. The ETRA looks at that question across a region. This looks at it across a single firm.
If you run a business of between five and fifty people, the ten checks are on one printable page, free, at fleurlamont.com/guide.html. Keep it by the till. The point is not to predict the bad day. It is to make the bad day short.
For the full Be Ready for business page with context on the campaign and the ladder from free guide to resilience session to risk assessment, see fleurlamont.com/be-ready.html.