Companies showing ‘unrealistic optimism’ in the face of potential energy shortages

energy, Centrica, Resilience
Report by Centrica highlights energy resilience as a point of failure for businesses

A report from Centrica Business Solutions shows that many UK businesses are not prepared for energy failures within the next 12 months, even though more than half expect such problems to arise.

Centrica’s Resilience Report is based on research carried out across 301 decision-makers from a range of industries in the UK and Ireland. Individuals surveyed had a responsibility for energy and / or operational effectiveness in their business. Research was conducted by B2B specialist Circle Research.

The results show that 32% of organisations do not have any energy resilience strategy in place and 33% of respondents said that their organisation is ‘not prepared for a disruption to their energy supply from a temporary grid failure.’ The organisations surveyed included hospitals and care homes; retail, hotel and leisure; and educational establishments.

Centrica Business Solutions points to these figures as an indication that businesses are not taking the threat of power shortages seriously enough. The report states: “Whilst many acknowledge the reality of the threats to their energy supply, a phenomenon of ‘unrealistic optimism’ has taken hold, whereby they think it will never happen to their business, or someone else will take care of the problem for them.”

Businesses estimated that when direct and indirect costs were taken into account, the cost of an energy-related failure could total as much as 17% of annual revenues. One of the other findings of the research is that businesses which have not experienced a power outage in the last 12 months, significantly underestimate the associated costs when compared with companies who have experienced such failures.

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