You Can’t Talk Resiliency Without Talking Propane
For a business, a power outage isn’t merely an inconvenience. It can be a catastrophe, with late shipments, massive loss of inventory, or a reputation on the line. A propane standby generator that can keep a building functioning during a power interruption isn’t a luxury for a business, it’s a necessity. It’s also your opportunity to stand apart as a commercial construction professional, because you’ll go beyond a more durable building. By including propane standby generators in your plans, you’ll be giving your customers true resiliency, security, and peace of mind.
The risks to businesses are real. According to Eaton’s 2014 Blackout Tracker Annual Report, the United States suffered 3,634 power outages in 2014, affecting more than 14 million people. That’s 12 percent higher than 2013, and 285 percent more often than in 1984. What’s more, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, outages are actually lasting longer. And even a few hours without power can cost a mid-sized business more than $14,000. For other businesses, those losses aren’t hourly; they’re minute-to-minute.
Set Your Projects Apart
By initiating the resilient building conversation with your commercial customers, and stressing the importance of a propane standby generator as part of their plans, you can:
- Set yourself apart from competitors who aren’t resilient builders.
- Increase the perception of quality and value of your commercial building projects.
- Proactively meet customer’s needs with a better solution than diesel, gasoline, or other standby power sources.
Propane: Resiliency Defined
In areas where natural disasters have occurred, many builders have discovered the value of building and marketing more durable commercial properties. For a commercial audience, this makes sense: A business can’t afford to lose valuable equipment, inventory, or infrastructure.
Yet resilient building is about more than “sturdiness.” Resiliency is the ability to function after or during an ongoing natural disaster or accidental power outage. A propane standby generator can save a business thousands of dollars by keeping the doors open and the lights on.
A reliable propane standby generator is a key part of resilient design, allowing a business to:
- Resist hazards brought on by major disasters.
- Keep employees engaged and productive during what would otherwise be downtime.
- Continue providing necessary services and products to its customers.
- Reduce the magnitude or duration of a disruptive event.
Ask the Question: Are you Prepared?
What happens to a business during a power outage? At best, it’s a few minutes of employees standing around talking about the interruption to their day. But at its worst, it’s hours, or even days without power. Orders piling up. Employees worried about lost hours or working overtime to make them up. Customers going elsewhere. For everyone involved, it’s a mountain of stress. And only 19 percent of business owners feel even somewhat prepared for a power outage. Six percent are very unprepared.
Top Business Concerns in a Power Outage
A propane standby generator is the best protection against these possibilities. It eliminates both the financial losses, the emotional stress, and the damage to a business’ reputation that a power interruption can cause.
The Power of Propane
A propane standby generator offers everything a business could want: quiet power, efficiency, safety, and low greenhouse gas emissions. That’s performance other standby power sources can’t match:
- Permanently installed and supplied by an above- or below- ground tank, it starts automatically, usually in less than 10 seconds after a main power interruption.
- Propane doesn’t degrade over time, unlike diesel or gasoline, making it the ideal standby power fuel.
- Many units produce as little as 63 decibels of noise: less than a household vacuum cleaner.
- Available in a variety of capacities, they can power everything from small businesses to hospitals, manufacturing facilities, and other large buildings.
- Propane produces significantly fewer greenhouse gas emissions than diesel or gasoline.
- Propane is non-toxic, non-poisonous, and won’t contaminate soil or water.
- Propane can handle all of a business’ energy needs for days, unlike solar- or wind-power systems.
Propane Provides Energy Versatility
The same propane that will power a commercial standby generator can also power other major systems that are important to any business.
Adding propane systems throughout a business reduces the size and cost of the standby generator, by reducing the demands placed on it.
Power Outages Take a Toll
When the power goes down, so does profitability. Here’s what a four- to eight-hour power interruption cost one Midwestern retail food service business.
What was Lost?
- Lost Business: “It’s difficult to watch customers go to the competition.”
- Lost Reputation: “It opens up a window to lose customers for good, if we can’t consistently serve them.”
- Lost Confidence: “It’s difficult to make employees and customers understand it’s not in our power to fix the situation.”
Financial Losses During Outage:
- $32, 750*
- Damaged equipment and electronics.
- Lost revenue.
- Material losses.
*Power Outage Impact Research, B2B International – 2015
The Cost of Being Unprepared
Thirty-nine percent of business owners say the expense is the only reason they have no form of standby power. However, the question shouldn’t be “how much will a standby generator cost?” Instead, the question should be “how much will a power outage cost us?” Usually, it’s only after a power interruption, when businesses discover firsthand all the ways they’ve been hit financially, that they start asking the right question.
“A power outage can cost a mid-sized business up to $14,000*”
So what will a power outage cost? The average business will experience 3.5 power interruptions in a two-year period.1 Even a short power interruption incurs costs. Longer interruptions can be catastrophic. According to a Power Outage Impact Research report by B2B International:
- Relocating a single patient from a healthcare facility costs roughly $2,000.
- A manufacturing firm paid more than $250,000 in lost wages and overtime after a one-day power outage.
- A Washington grocery store lost nearly its entire inventory, more than $100,000 of food, after a multi-day power outage.
The average financial impact on education, healthcare, retail, government, hospitality, and manufacturing facilities.
*Power Outage Impact Research, B2B International – 2015
By talking to your customers about the need for a propane generator, you could be saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars, and protecting their reputation into the future.
DON’T LEAVE YOUR CUSTOMERS IN THE DARK
Set your projects apart from the competition. Give your commercial customers the protection and peace of mind that only a propane standby generator can deliver. Learn more about the propane generator benefits of propane standby power.
