Powercall cares for emergency-power needs of nine care homes

To avoid the cost of purchasing a standby generator for all of its nine care homes in Worcestershire, Heart of England Housing & Care has arranged with Powercall for a standby generator to be delivered to a site when required and be connected within an hour. Explaining the need for this service, Neil Peggs, the company’s building surveyor, says, ‘In the last three years there have been two major power cuts in the Worcestershire area that have lasted in excess of four hours. We are dedicated to providing high-quality care for all our residents and so wanted to ensure that essential facilities such as heating and light could be provided in the event of a prolonged power cut.’ Powercall’s nationwide generator network is serviced by a continuously manned control room. A generator is despatched from a local depot with a target delivery time to site of an hour and a guaranteed maximum of three hours. When the generator arrives on site, it is hooked up to a pre-fitted connection point, and the customer can then switch over to the generator. An indicator lamp on the changeover switch shows when mains power has been restored. Heart of England Housing & Care is a not-for-profit company with charitable status. Any financial surpluses are used only to improve standards of care and amenities provided for residents. The Powercall service was launched at the beginning of 2005.