I live in a “third world country: Philippines”. Today we had a brownout three times. The longest was 1 1/2 hrs. I have had brownouts last as long as three days, (sub station’s generator broke and spare parts had to be sent from Manila for repairs).
Maintenance is not regularly done on the equipment. Along with that, many of the power poles, (old wood style), are placed in the middle of rice fields where they are sitting in water for months at a time. Of course the water rot and termites take a toll on them. Fortunately those poles are slowly being moved out of the rice fields and closer to the roads and are being replaced with concrete or metal poles.
You learn to be prepared for the brownouts and stock up on ice to keep your freezer cold and, if you can afford one, you get a generator as a back-up.
I use a generator directly wired into a double throw switch. When I have to use the generator I flip the switch to disconnect from the “grid” and the generator is then supplying electricity to the full house using the existing switches and outlets. No need to run electrical cords all over the house to run lights and appliances.
Folks in California are not expecting to be without power, until now, and are not prepared for it. I bet there is a run on generators about now.
Glad I left almost 20 years ago and will not return.
Having a standby generator has become a necessity here in New Hampshire. This is because for years the power company neglected to trim around the power lines. NH is the most forested state in the USA. In addition, we have designated scenic roads where the power company/town can not cut down a tree over 6” in diameter if it is within a certain distance from the road without specific permission from some local nanny state committee.
This all results in tree limbs breaking and whole trees falling on the power lines. For about ten years in a row, we would lose power one to three times/year. Sometimes for several days. Occasionally, during a big ice storm for a couple weeks.
We all now have Gentran or Protran transfer switch boxes. These are standard equipment on all new houses. Almost all older house have been retrofitted. In new subdivisions, standby gas(propane) generators are part of the package. We do not have natural gas here in most of the state because of the NIMBY effect of pipelines. Therefore, propane and heating oil are the primary heating/energy source other than WOOD and wood pellets.
One of the main problems with gasoline generators like the Honda I own is the fuel required to run them. The tank only holds 8 gallons. This is enough to run 24 hours. I have 3 gasoline cans that hold another 10 gallons. So, if the power outage lasts for a couple days, you need to go out and find it. The problem can be that many of the stations also do not have power. I remember one time passing three stations before I found one whose pumps were running. Then I stood in line for 45 minutes waiting to fill up.
The last major problem with standby generators is that EVERY time we have a power outage, some one kills themselves or their whole family due to Carbon Monoxide poisoning. They leave their generator in their garage that is connected to the house. They go to sleep and never wake up. Sometimes it is because they are afraid someone will steal their generator. This is also a common problem. People will steal your generator because you can not buy one anywhere during these power outages.