Remote Work + Power Outage
Deciding what you might do if ‘situation normal’, or Plan ‘A’, is compromised is something we regularly teach. Have you ever thought that this is not just a corporate concept—but also one that applies to the increasing numbers of home-based workers? Take a look at how a real, if small scale, ‘disaster’ can shut you down, and see how having a Plan ‘B’ can keep you working.
Who Needs a Plan ‘B’?

If ‘normal life’, or Plan ‘A’, always worked, then nobody would need a Plan ‘B’. However, we live in a real world where the unexpected happens and normality fails. Typically this will be a loss of power or communications. It might be because the office becomes unusable due to fire or flood. Let’s avoid chaos by planning what to do when the crisis happens.
A Real Example
Shortly after midnight one day recently, a driver lost control of their car and veered off the highway at speed. The car hit a wooden power pole. The pole broke, twisted as it fell and shorted out the 14kV power lines it carried. Circuit breakers cut power and fire was averted, but electric power was cut to over 2,000 customers. I was one.
I woke to an eery quiet and cold. No way to cook breakfast, so we went out at 8am to a restaurant outside the dark zone. We returned around 9am. I had a conference call at 10am. Panic would be a normal response, but I had plans.
My Plan B
Firstly I have an extended run UPS for my IT equipment, so the computer and comms gear were running. This let me complete my conference call as though nothing was wrong, except me wearing a thick sweater (Plan B if no heating).
My UPS batteries would not last forever, so a new plan was needed. Here I turned to my car, which is a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. Its 300v battery has around 15kWh of energy and has a 120V invertor. So a long extension cord gave me 1.5kW of power, good for almost 10 hours.
Loss of Infrastructure
By late morning, internet service had died, because the local network only has limited battery backup for the line amplifiers and several were in the dark zone. Not to worry, I have a cellular backup for internet and phones, which was fine until the base station battery ran dry. Cell service was dead by lunch time, meaning phones only worked if they could ‘see’ cell towers outside the dark zone.
Restoration
By lunch time, Hydro crews had cleared the mess and replaced the pole. Power came back on … for a few minutes. Then a sub-circuit fuse blew with the surge load created by all the people who had got up, turned on all their usual morning stuff, found it not working, and left for work in the city. Those appliances now drew massive surge current when the power came back on … and the fuse blew. This second outage took until early evening to fix (it was one of several fused circuits that failed) so all in we lost power for about 18 hours.
Best Practices
This real story shows how one simple action caused massive complications for thousands. But it also shows how being prepared can reduce the effect of the disruption and keep business alive.
Everyone needs a set of ‘Plan B’ scenarios. Some steps are simple, like knowing where to find the extension cord to bring power from the EV in the garage to where it is needed. Some may need investment, like perhaps getting a cellular booster so you can make use of distant cell sites when your local one goes dark.
If you’d like to explore these ideas further or comment on this article, reach me at peter.
This article was published in the
May 2023
edition of The TMC Advisor
- ISSN 2369-663X Volume:10 Issue:4
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