Overview
Charged with ensuring the safety and comfort of scores of elderly people, a Hampshire-based care group sought to ensure that the residents throughout its 19 quality care homes did not face potential hazards and discomforts brought about by national grid mains power failure. They turned to Shenton Group’s nationwide emergency generator service, Power Call, which ensures their homes have ‘power in the hour’ in the event of any brownout or blackout.
Problem
The National Grid is experiencing it’s lowest reserve power levels in recent years. As it decommissions scores of older, less environmentally-friendly coal power stations, it is not bringing greener replacements online quick enough. Coupled with less predictable weather, reserve power levels have dropped to just over one per cent at times, posing a real risk to organisations providing healthcare and welfare services.
Caring for the elderly relies heavily on reliable, continuous power supplies. Each and every one of Colten Care’s homes has electricity demands for lighting, heating, and for security, catering and vital medical equipment. Any break in mains power spells, not only a compromise in comfort, but a very real risk to human life.
With 19 residential homes throughout Wiltshire, Dorset and Hampshire, the prospect of securing standby generators for each unit was an expensive one.
Solution
Shenton Group’s Technical Director, Derek Barry, explained how Colten Care opted for the Power Call emergency generator service: “Initially requiring 17 care homes to be protected from mains power failure, the cost to Colten Care of installing a backup generator at each location would be significantly high. Because Shenton Group has a number of depots across the country, in the event of mains power failure, a Shenton Group engineer can have a generator onsite and operational within an hour. Our record is a staggering 23 minutes and we guarantee 3 hours, or your money back!”
“Shenton Group’s Power Call nationwide network of on-call generators is a cost effective solution to providing standby power for our Care Homes”, said the Care Group’s Plant and Transport Manager. “It means we can ensure our homes continue to provide our residents with essential services such as heating, lighting, security systems, safety equipment and electrically operated beds when power cuts occur”, he added.
Since the initial contract was signed with 17 of the care homes in 2010, the company has contracted with Shenton Group’s Power Call service for a further 2 care homes; one in Winchester and one in Sturminster Newton.
At each location, indicator lamp is fitted to the changeover switch to advise the customer when the mains power is restored. Should there be a prolonged power cut, Shenton Group will provide a refuelling service to keep the standby generator running for the duration of the power cut.
Outcomes
Each and every one of Colten Care’s 19 care homes now provides a much more secure environment for its residents. The management was aware that many of its elderly residents rely on powered equipment to improve their quality of life and mains power failure would have an adverse affect on their well being. Power Call generators ensure that essential services can continue to operate when power cuts inevitable occur.
Shenton Group’s Power Call nationwide generator service is the ideal solution for emergency and business continuity planning. Serviced by a 24/7-control room, a generator is quickly despatched from a local depot with a target time of less than one hour and a guaranteed commitment to a maximum of three hours. Upon arrival the delivery engineer connects the generator to the pre-fitted connection point and advises the customer to switch over to the generator.
With the addition of Power Call, this ensures that there are common standards throughout the Colten Care and the Directors and the senior management team visit each home on a regular basis. All the Care Homes have been classified as good or excellent under the Care Quality Commission’s star rating scheme.
About Shenton Group
Shenton Group is the UK’s leading technical expert in standby power, uninterruptible power supplies, and combined heat and power supplies. The company provides power solutions to organisations spanning a broad array of industries that rely on continuous power supplies and includes; education, finance, telecoms, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, IT, government, utilities, and sport and leisure.
Providing emergency power generator access 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year through a nationwide network of power generator engineers and depots, Shenton Group’s Power Call aims to have a generator on-site and running within one hour of a power failure. Shenton Group’s record for delivering an emergency standby generator is just 23 minutes and the company is so confident of it’s response times and efficiency that it guarantees generator power within three hours – or your money back.
Shenton Group’s standby generator range includes single and three phase generator solutions, ranging from 10kVA to 3.2MVA. All include a full range of weatherproof canopies to meet sound attenuation levels; proven industry-leading control systems and switchgear hardware; integral bunded base-frame fuel tanks and fuel management systems; containerised modular solutions; custom built drop-over acoustic canopies; and skid-mounted ‘open’ sets for specific applications.
Case study written February 2013