When our house in east Bellevue, WA was without power for 3 days in the "Great Ice Storm" in the mid-2000's, we relied on a wood-burning stove for heat, candles & battery-operated lanterns/flashlights. Our water heater & cook top were gas, so they still functioned (because gas lines are underground). We transferred commonly used items from the fridges to ice chests immediately and kept the fridges closed. There was plenty of snow to keep the ice chests cold.
Fortunately, we could still cook and take hot showers. We read a lot. Played acoustic music.
Somehow, we managed to survive w/o TV or computers for 3 days, although we did have a battery-operated 'boom box' for music & news.
When the power came back on, we were nearly blinded by the light. We realized how unnecessary a large part of our wattage was. We still try to use only the lighting we really need, which is good because the solar panels on our new house can provide nearly all the electricity we need. Our neighborhood has underground electricity, but the high voltage transmission (grid to neighborhood transformer) lines are above ground, meaning we could still lose electricity in a storm, etc.
We are looking into an emergency generator, and hoping solar storage batteries become available at a reasonable cost.
Denny, talking about undergrounding is something I can relate to. I don’t remember if Laguna has undergrounding or power poles. I have a line which runs right over my garage. It was undergrounding which got me involved in my first local political encounter after retirement. It is a long story but our neighborhood ( about three streets in the Heights) fought the movement when we found out that less than the whole story was involved in information given to property owners. We fought against it for our small area and won.
In a similar vein, property owners are currently shocked by this month’s natural gas bills. They more than doubled from the previous month……almost $400 in January for a house not much larger than 1000 square feet!
When our house in east Bellevue, WA was without power for 3 days in the "Great Ice Storm" in the mid-2000's, we relied on a wood-burning stove for heat, candles & battery-operated lanterns/flashlights. Our water heater & cook top were gas, so they still functioned (because gas lines are underground). We transferred commonly used items from the fridges to ice chests immediately and kept the fridges closed. There was plenty of snow to keep the ice chests cold.
Fortunately, we could still cook and take hot showers. We read a lot. Played acoustic music.
Somehow, we managed to survive w/o TV or computers for 3 days, although we did have a battery-operated 'boom box' for music & news.
When the power came back on, we were nearly blinded by the light. We realized how unnecessary a large part of our wattage was. We still try to use only the lighting we really need, which is good because the solar panels on our new house can provide nearly all the electricity we need. Our neighborhood has underground electricity, but the high voltage transmission (grid to neighborhood transformer) lines are above ground, meaning we could still lose electricity in a storm, etc.
We are looking into an emergency generator, and hoping solar storage batteries become available at a reasonable cost.
Denny, talking about undergrounding is something I can relate to. I don’t remember if Laguna has undergrounding or power poles. I have a line which runs right over my garage. It was undergrounding which got me involved in my first local political encounter after retirement. It is a long story but our neighborhood ( about three streets in the Heights) fought the movement when we found out that less than the whole story was involved in information given to property owners. We fought against it for our small area and won.
In a similar vein, property owners are currently shocked by this month’s natural gas bills. They more than doubled from the previous month……almost $400 in January for a house not much larger than 1000 square feet!