Coal, baby! (Well in the northeast, anyway.)
“A ton of anthracite, a particularly high grade of coal, can cost as little as $120 near mines in Pennsylvania. The (heat) equivalent amount of heating oil would cost roughly $380, based on the most recent prices in the state and over $470 using prices from December 2007. An equivalent amount of natural gas would cost about $480 at current prices.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/business/27coal.html
For 1/3 the price of of oil and 1/4 the price of NG, many in the northeast do still use coal.
a lot of households in Alberta still do as well.
Oil, coal, wood, you can stockpile it.
not dependent on some utility to function competently.