Medium-sized UK businesses without energy resilience strategies are risking an average of £2.8 million each year in damages and lost opportunities.

That’s among the findings from Centrica Business Solutions’ new report, which is based on a survey of more than 300 organisations across the UK and Ireland.

When questioned, senior decision makers who had not experienced a serious energy failure predicted the cost to their business would be 7% of their annual revenue.

In reality, businesses impacted by blackouts found the actual figure was much higher, at around 17%.

It suggests having plans to ensure a secure and reliable source of energy mean organisations are 13% more likely to have a good brand reputation and a third more likely to have strong financial performance.

Despite this, only 16% of companies are making the issue a top priority and less than a fifth have a formal energy resilience strategy.

A further 32% of businesses have no form of energy resilience strategy in place at all.

Alan Barlow, UK Director of Centrica Business Solutions said: “Ignoring the risks can be very damaging.

“Without an energy resilience strategy, organisations can only be as successful as their energy supply allows.”