Be Prepared for Extreme Weather

Woke up without power? Did your alarm go off? Food starting to go bad? Morning coffee?!

We often think of being inconvenienced during a power outage or being caught with a low battery in our cell phones (oh no!) as the worst possible thing that could happen to us. An hour or two without power is annoying. When you’re 4 hours or more into an outage, what’s it really costing you?

Thinking you saved a bit on the electric bill while the power was down? Think again. When the power does come back on it takes hours for the furnace/AC to heat/cool the interior of your home to the desired temperature. This includes the hot water heater (if it isn’t tankless or gas powered). What you “saved” was consumed during the catch-up period.

Get a garbage bag ready and start a new shopping list. If the power is off for 4 or more hours (AND you keep the doors shut on the fridge and freezer), you’re looking at having to replace some, if not all, of the food in the refrigerator. Raw eggs, meat, seafood, and dairy products will all need to be thrown out. Anything in the freezer marked “do not refreeze” can be thrown in the bag, too. You could be looking at a few hundred dollars in waste.

If the power is out for more than a day, you may need to head to a hotel. So, add nightly cost to the price of eating out for three meals a day. Conservatively, hotel and meals could cost around $300 per day for three people.

Have well water? When your power goes off, there’s no running water for cooking, washing dishes, bathing, or flushing toilets…unless you’ve stored one gallon per family member for each day the power is off.

Standby generators are an investment for your home and your family. Don’t be left in the dark.