Generators on Rent for Election Counting and Exam Centres: Security, Continuous Duty and Government Timelines

In short. Counting centres and examination centres are not ordinary events. The loads that must never drop are the CCTV, webcasting and strong-room systems, and at an exam centre also the halls at the moment the paper starts. The generators must sit outside the secured perimeter with supervised access, run continuously overnight, and be refuelled under the security protocol. Several centres often go live on the same morning. Plan from the government timeline backwards, and close every job with signed records.

Who this page is for: returning and assistant returning officers and their electrical staff, district and departmental administration, examination boards, recruitment and test agencies, centre superintendents, and colleges and schools that host counting or exam centres.

Key facts

The loads that must not drop are CCTV and recording, webcasting, strong-room lighting, locks and monitoring, and the tabulation and result systems. Fans and general lighting come second.
Counting and strong-room guarding run overnight and sometimes for days. Treat this as continuous duty, not standby.
Generators normally sit outside the secured perimeter, with cables entering through an agreed route and access supervised by the security staff.
At an exam centre the critical instant is paper-start. The supply must be on generator, stable and proven before the doors close, not on mains with the hope of changeover.
Government work runs on work orders, approvals and sign-offs. Agree the paperwork as early as the equipment.
Many centres go live on the same day, so sets, operators and fuel must be reserved per centre, early.

How these sites differ from an ordinary event

A wedding or a concert is judged by the guests. A counting or exam centre is judged by observers, candidates and the official record. A dark CCTV feed in a strong room, a gap in a webcast or a hall that loses power at paper-start is a procedural issue, not just an inconvenience. The power plan therefore follows the security plan and the official timetable, and it must be documented so it can be shown to be sound afterwards.

For general event practice (event periods, noise and placement among guests, and stage and catering power), see event power rental.

Election counting centres: what must stay live

Strong rooms. Strong rooms are guarded and monitored round the clock between the poll and the count. CCTV cameras, recorders, display screens for the guards, lighting at the doors and any access-control or alarm equipment must run without interruption for the whole period, often several days.
Counting halls. On counting day, hall lighting, CCTV coverage of the tables, the public-address system and the tabulation and result computers and printers carry the count.
Webcasting and media. Where proceedings are webcast or a media centre is set up, the cameras, encoders, network switches and internet routers must be on a protected supply. A short break drops the stream.
Control room. Communication equipment, computers and lighting for the officials.

Put the computers, recorders, webcasting and network equipment behind a UPS, and the UPS on the generator. The generator covers duration; the UPS covers the transfer. Test the UPS on generator supply in advance, as described in UPS on generator supply.

Examination centres: zero tolerance at paper-start

Change to generator before the paper. Do not rely on an automatic changeover at the critical moment. Transfer the halls to generator supply ahead of paper-start, confirm voltage and frequency, and stay on generator until the session ends. Mains returning mid-session is not a reason to switch back.
Computer-based tests. Servers, network switches, candidate terminals and the room air conditioning are the whole exam. Size the set for the UPS input plus its battery recharge, with margin, and keep a second set ready.
CCTV and invigilation. Hall cameras and recorders run for the whole session and are often reviewed afterwards. They belong on the protected supply.
Question-paper strong rooms and printing. Where papers are stored, opened or printed on site, the strong room’s lighting, CCTV, locks and the printers and copiers must be on a supply that will not fail at the moment of printing or distribution.
Several sessions a day. Plan fuel and checks between sessions, not during them.

Redundancy for counting and exam centres

Use two sets, each able to carry the critical load alone. What is specific here is which load counts as critical and how the second set is used:

The critical circuits (CCTV, webcasting, strong rooms, tabulation, exam servers and terminals, paper printing) are wired to a board that either set can feed.
For strong-room guarding over several days, plan for the duty set to be stopped for routine checks while the standby set carries the load, so maintenance never leaves the strong room unpowered.
At paper-start or the opening of counting, both sets are running and ready; the duty set carries the load and the standby set is warm.
Where several centres run on one day, each centre has its own pair. Do not plan one standby set to cover several centres.

Placement, cabling and security perimeter

Outside the perimeter. The sets, fuel and the operator usually stay outside the secured area, so refuelling and checks never need access to the strong rooms or halls. Agree the location with the officials during the survey.
Agreed cable entry. Bring cables through one agreed, protected entry point to a locked distribution board inside. Label every circuit so the security staff and the electrical lead can identify them.
Supervised access. The operator’s movements to the set and to the internal board are agreed with security. Arrange access passes for named operators before the day.
Tamper protection. The generator enclosure, fuel tank and distribution board are locked, and keys are held as the security plan requires.
Earthing and earth-leakage protection. Test and record the temporary earth electrodes, because the record may be asked for. See temporary-site earthing and RCDs.

Continuous duty and refuelling under security

Size the fuel for days, not hours. Strong-room guarding can run continuously for several days. Calculate fuel from the actual overnight load, which is often far lower than the counting-day load, and plan refuelling at fixed times.
Refuel by protocol. Fix refuelling times and routes with the security staff. Tankers and fuel cans may be checked or restricted, so agree who escorts the delivery and where it stops.
Refuel the standby set first. Then transfer the load, refuel the duty set, and log both.
Use an external tank where needed, bunded and locked, so the set runs between permitted refuelling windows. See rental fuel tanks.
Account for every litre. Government work may need fuel records. Our fuel control guide explains how to log and reconcile.
Checks overnight. Oil level, coolant, battery charging and alarms are checked at fixed intervals and entered in the log.

Government timelines, work orders and documentation

Election and exam dates are announced well in advance, but approvals, work orders and site access can take time. Plan backwards from the date.

When	What happens
As soon as the schedule is announced	Share the list of centres, dates and hours. Reserve sets and operators per centre.
Before the work order	Provide the technical proposal: sets per centre, critical circuits, redundancy, fuel and operator plan, and the rental terms.
On receipt of the work order	Confirm quantities, centres, dates and the officer in charge at each centre.
Site survey	Agree set location outside the perimeter, cable entry, internal board position and access arrangements with the officials.
Installation	Sets placed, earthed and cabled; earth-resistance and insulation readings recorded.
Trial	Full-load trial on the real critical load, changeover tested, UPS tested on generator, results signed by the centre’s electrical lead.
Operation	Operator on site through the guarding period, counting day or exam sessions; log kept hourly.
Handover and close	Shut-down only on the officer’s instruction, disconnection, removal, and the signed handover record.

Arrangement decision table

Centre type	Suggested arrangement	Point to watch
Strong room guarding, poll to count	Duty and standby sets, continuous duty, external fuel tank	Overnight refuelling windows agreed with security.
Counting hall with webcasting	Duty and standby sets; CCTV, webcast and tabulation behind a UPS	Network and encoder equipment on the protected supply.
Pen-and-paper exam centre	Duty and standby sets; halls on generator before paper-start	Do not switch back to mains mid-session.
Computer-based test centre	Duty and standby sets feeding the centre’s UPS	UPS input and recharge sized with margin; tested on generator.
Question-paper strong room or printing point	Dedicated protected circuit for strong room, CCTV and printers	Printing timed when both sets are running.
Several centres on one day	A pair of sets and a named operator per centre	Reserve early; no shared standby between centres.

Worked example (illustrative): strong room and counting hall at one centre

A counting centre in a college has two strong rooms that must be guarded for four days before counting, and two counting halls, a control room and a webcast point on counting day.

Guarding period (four days, continuous).

Load	Estimate (kW)
CCTV cameras, recorders and guard monitors	1.5
Strong-room door and corridor lighting	1.0
Strong-room air conditioning, 2 × 1.8 kW	3.6
Guard post fans and lighting	0.5
Total	6.6

Counting day. Add hall lighting (6.0 kW), hall fans (3.0 kW), tabulation computers and printers (6.0 kW), public address (2.0 kW), webcast and network (1.0 kW) and control-room air conditioning (3.6 kW): 21.6 kW more, for a total of 28.2 kW, or about 33 kVA at a power factor of 0.85.

Choosing the sets. A 62.5 kVA duty set carries counting day at about 53 %, with an identical standby set; the margin covers UPS battery recharge, air-conditioner compressor starts and the non-linear load of the computers. During guarding, the 6.6 kW load is only about 12 % of one 62.5 kVA set, which is too light for days on end. The better plan is a separate pair of 15 kVA sets for the strong rooms during guarding (6.6 kW is about 55 % of one), with the 62.5 kVA pair added for counting day. That keeps every set reasonably loaded and limits light-load running. See light loading and wet stacking.

Fuel for guarding. At 6.6 kW, about 55 % load, and a typical 0.26–0.33 L/kWh at 50–100 % load, the duty set uses about 1.7–2.2 litres an hour; allow 2.5 litres an hour for air-conditioner cycling and margin. Over four days (96 hours), plan roughly 96 × 2.5 = 240 litres for the duty set, plus a reserve, with refuelling at agreed daytime windows. Confirm against the set’s fuel curve using the fuel consumption estimator.

All figures are illustrative. Each centre is surveyed and sized on its own loads.

Centre handover sign-off sheet

Item	Recorded value or Yes/No	Signed (centre)	Signed (operator)
Centre name and officer in charge
Set serial numbers and ratings (duty and standby)
Set location outside perimeter agreed
Critical circuits identified and labelled
Earth resistance readings
Earth-leakage protection tested
Full-load trial completed (date, time)
Changeover tested
UPS tested on generator supply
Fuel at start (litres, both sets)
Refuelling windows agreed with security
Operator names and access passes
Log book opened
Shut-down on officer’s instruction (date, time)
Fuel at close and total used
Equipment removed and site restored

Exceptions and cautions

Official instructions take priority. The officer in charge decides access, timings and shut-down. The power plan must fit their security plan, not the other way round.
Never back-feed the building’s main board without a proper changeover that isolates the incoming supply.
Do not trust a campus earth without testing it.
Light load during guarding. A large set idling on a strong-room load for days will suffer; size the guarding sets separately.
Monsoon and storms. Protect the cable entry, joints and the internal board from water, and keep the sets above flood level.

Common mistakes

Treating the strong-room period as standby and running out of fuel on the third night.
Relying on an automatic changeover at paper-start instead of transferring to generator beforehand.
Putting the generator inside the secured area, so every refuelling needs special access.
Leaving the webcast router or network switch off the protected supply.
Sharing one standby set across several centres on the same day.
Finishing without a signed handover record, then being asked for one later.

What to send us

Send the list of centres with addresses, the dates and hours for each (including any strong-room guarding period), the critical loads at each centre, any UPS or computer-based systems, and the name of the officer in charge. Use the generator rental enquiry, or WhatsApp the details to 98852 01608. For rental terms, see our rental rates guide and use Get price for your centres and dates. Rental covers the generator only: transport is at actuals in the customer’s scope, and cable and an operator are extra if required. For continuous duty at a counting or exam centre, an operator is usually needed.

Questions engineers ask

Which loads must never drop at a counting centre?

CCTV and recording, webcasting, strong-room lighting and monitoring, and the tabulation and result systems. Put them on a protected board that either set can feed, with a UPS for the electronic equipment.

Should exam halls change over to generator before the paper starts?

Yes. Transfer to generator supply before paper-start, confirm it is stable, and stay on generator until the session ends. Do not rely on a changeover at the critical moment.

Where should the generators be placed?

Outside the secured perimeter, at a location agreed with the officials, with cables entering through one protected route. That way refuelling and checks never need access to strong rooms or halls.

How is refuelling handled during strong-room guarding?

At fixed windows and routes agreed with security, standby set first, with every litre logged. An external bunded tank lets the sets run between refuelling windows.

Can one standby set cover several centres?

No. Centres often go live at the same time, so each needs its own pair of sets and a named operator.

What records should be handed over?

Set details, earth and protection test readings, the full-load trial result, fuel at start and close, the operating log and a signed handover sheet for each centre.

Technical content reviewed by D. Srinivas Reddy, Managing Partner and service engineer. Last updated 5 November 2026.