How to Prepare for a Power Outage: Complete Checklist

Power outages are getting worse. In 2024, the average American customer spent 11 hours without power, nearly double the prior decade's average. Three hurricanes alone caused 80% of all outage hours that year. One in four U.S. households experienced at least one outage in the past 12 months, and 70% of those lasted six hours or longer.

You don't need to be a prepper. You just need a plan.

What to do before, during, and after: plus the backup power option most people don't think about until they're sitting in the dark wishing they had.

What Outages Actually Cost: Quick Reference

Before you read the checklist, look at what's actually at stake financially when the power goes out for an extended period:

A 48-hour summer outage might cost $500 to $1,000 in food and hotel bills. A 5-day winter outage with a burst pipe can exceed $30,000. That's not a scare tactic — it's the math. See our full breakdown of standby generator costs to understand how backup power compares to these losses.

State-by-State Power Outage Risk

Not every state faces the same outage risk. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) tracks System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI), which measures how many minutes per year the average customer goes without power. Here are the 10 worst states, based on EIA data including major event days:

These numbers swing dramatically year to year. Louisiana's average skyrockets in hurricane years (Hurricane Ida in 2021 left some areas without power for over 3 weeks). Texas's 2021 Winter Storm Uri caused 4.5 million outages. California's Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) — where utilities intentionally cut power to prevent wildfires — add planned outage hours that don't exist in most other states.

If you live in one of these states, outage prep isn't optional. It's maintenance. Find out what size generator your home needs if you're in a high-risk area.

Who's Most at Risk

Outages don't hit everyone equally. Some households face disproportionate consequences:

Rural Areas

If you live outside a metro area, you're last in line for power restoration. Utilities prioritize repairs that restore service to the most customers first, which means dense urban areas get fixed before rural lines. USDA data shows rural customers experience outages 2 to 3 times longer than urban customers on average. If your nearest neighbor is a quarter-mile away, your restoration time reflects that.

Medical-Dependent Households

4.5 million Medicare beneficiaries use electricity-dependent medical equipment at home: CPAP machines, oxygen concentrators, home dialysis, powered wheelchairs, and refrigerated medications like insulin. For these households, a multi-day outage isn't an inconvenience — it's a medical emergency. A professionally installed standby generator with an automatic transfer switch is the only solution that works when you're asleep or away from home.

Homes with Wells

No power means no well pump, which means no water — not just for drinking but for flushing toilets. Municipal water systems have backup generators at pumping stations. Your private well does not. If your home is on well water, you lose all water service the moment power drops.

Homes with Sump Pumps

Power outages and heavy storms often happen at the same time. If your basement stays dry because of a sump pump, that pump going silent during a storm is a $4,000 to $8,000 problem. Battery backup sump pumps buy a few hours. A natural gas or propane standby generator runs indefinitely.

Work-from-Home Households

35% of U.S. workers with remote-capable jobs work from home at least part of the week. A power outage means lost income, missed meetings, and potentially missed deadlines. At $200 to $500 per day in lost wages, a 3-day outage during a critical work period costs $600 to $1,500 — and that's before you factor in the professional consequences.

Before the Outage. Your Prep Checklist

Food and Water

• Fill gallon bags with water and freeze them. Frozen water bags serve double duty: they keep your freezer cold longer (thermal mass) and become drinking water as they melt.
• Have a cooler and ice packs accessible: not buried in the garage. If the outage goes past 4 hours, you're moving fridge items into the cooler.
• Stock 3 to 7 days of non-perishable food. Canned goods, peanut butter, crackers, granola bars. Nothing that requires cooking unless you have a gas stove or camp stove.
• The food safety rules matter: closed fridge stays safe about 4 hours. Full freezer: 48 hours (24 if half full). After that, it's trash.

Lighting and Communication

• Flashlights with extra batteries. One per family member. Avoid candles: they're a fire risk, especially with kids.
• A battery-powered or hand-crank NOAA radio for storm updates when the internet is down. Your phone might be dead. The radio won't be.
• Portable phone chargers, fully topped off. A 20,000 mAh power bank gives most phones 4 to 5 full charges.
• Don't forget your car: it's a mobile charging station. Keep a USB adapter in the console.

Medical Equipment

If anyone in your household depends on electrically powered medical equipment, this section isn't optional.

• CPAP machines use 30 to 90 watts. Battery backups last 3 to 8 hours: enough for one night, not two.
• Oxygen concentrators draw 300 to 600 watts continuously. They cannot run on battery backups for long. This is a life-critical device.
• Insulin and other refrigerated medications need to stay between 36°F and 46°F. A cooler with ice buys you time, but not days.
• 4.5 million Medicare recipients use electricity-dependent equipment at home. If that's you, talk to your utility about medical baseline programs: some prioritize restoration for registered medical customers.

If this describes your household, backup power planning belongs on the same list as your medication schedule and emergency contacts. Learn about how long generators last — for medical-dependent homes, this is a long-term investment that pays for itself many times over.

Financial

• Cash. ATMs and card readers need electricity. $200 to $500 in small bills covers groceries, gas, and essentials during a multi-day outage.
• Your insurance policy number and agent's phone should be in your phone contacts, not a paper file in a dark house.
• Know your food spoilage coverage. Standard homeowners policies cover $500 to $1,000 per event. A food spoilage endorsement ($15 to $50 per year to add) raises that to $2,500.

Home Protection

• Know where your main water shutoff is. If the heat dies in winter, you may need to shut off water to prevent frozen pipes. Pipes can freeze in six hours without heat below 20°F. A burst pipe is one of the most expensive things that can happen to a house: we're talking five figures in water extraction, drywall, and mold remediation.
• Sump pump battery backup. If you have a sump pump and no generator, a battery backup unit ($200 to $600) buys you 5 to 12 hours of pumping. Without it, one heavy rainstorm during an outage means a flooded basement ($4,000 to $8,000 in cleanup).
• Surge protectors on electronics. When power returns, it can spike. Unplug sensitive electronics during the outage or use surge protectors.

Backup Power

The single most effective thing you can do before an outage is make sure you have backup power that starts automatically. A professionally installed standby generator paired with an automatic transfer switch kicks on within 10 to 20 seconds of a power loss — no manual intervention needed. You don't even have to be home.

Not sure what size you need? Use our generator sizing guide to figure out whether you need a whole-home unit or an essential-circuits setup. If noise is a concern for your neighborhood, read about generator noise levels before buying.

During the Outage. What to Do

First 30 Minutes

• Check whether it's just your home. Look outside: are your neighbors dark too? If it's only you, check your breaker box. If it's the area, report it to your utility.
• Unplug sensitive electronics. Computers, TVs, gaming consoles. Power surges on restoration can damage them.
• Conserve phone battery. Lower brightness, close apps, switch to low power mode. Text instead of calling: texts use less power and are more reliable on overloaded cell networks.

Food Safety

• Don't open the fridge unless you have to. Every time you open it, warm air gets in and the clock accelerates.
• Full freezer: safe for 48 hours. Half full: 24 hours. Keep the door closed.
• When in doubt, throw it out. If food has been above 40°F for more than two hours, it's not safe. Dairy, meat, and leftovers go first.
• Photograph everything before you toss it. You'll need documentation if you file an insurance claim for food spoilage.

Temperature Management

Summer: Stay hydrated. Close blinds to block heat. If it's dangerously hot and you have vulnerable family members (elderly, very young, medical conditions), go to a cooling center or a friend's house with power.

Winter: Close off unused rooms to concentrate heat in the living areas. Layer up: blankets, sleeping bags, winter clothing indoors. If the inside temperature drops below 55°F, consider leaving. That's the threshold where pipes start to be at risk, and prolonged cold exposure becomes a health concern for the elderly and young children.

Communication

• Text instead of call. Cell towers have limited battery backup (typically 4 to 8 hours). Texts use less bandwidth and go through when calls can't.
• Designate one family member to post updates on social media or a group text so everyone isn't using battery at the same time.
• Check on neighbors. Especially elderly neighbors living alone.

After the Outage. What Most People Forget

Food Check

• Discard anything that's been above 40°F for more than two hours. Meat, dairy, eggs, leftovers: no exceptions.
• Freezer contents: if ice crystals are still present, food is likely safe to refreeze. If it's fully thawed and above 40°F, discard it.
• Document with photos before throwing anything away. Your insurance claim needs evidence.

Home Check

• Inspect the sump pump area and basement. Water may have entered during the outage if the pump was off.
• Check for water damage around pipes. Especially in winter: a slow leak from a cracked pipe might not be obvious immediately.
• Reset clocks, thermostats, and timers. Your HVAC won't run on the right schedule until you reset it.
• Turn appliances back on one at a time. Don't flip everything on simultaneously; it can overload circuits as the grid stabilizes.

Insurance

• File food spoilage claims promptly. Most insurers have a window for reporting.
• Water backup coverage is not standard; it requires a separate rider. If your sump pump failed and the basement flooded, check whether you have this coverage before assuming it's covered.
• Document everything. Photos, receipts, timestamps.

After-Action: Prevent the Next One

Once you've recovered, ask yourself one question: was this outage bad enough that you don't want to go through it again? If the answer is yes, this is the moment to act — not six months from now when the memory has faded.

• Get generator quotes while the urgency is fresh. After major storms, generator installers are booked 8 to 16 weeks out. Getting quotes now means you're covered before the next event. Get free quotes from local installers.
• Understand the full cost picture. A standby generator runs $7,000 to $20,000 installed, but spreads across 20+ years of service. That's roughly $120/month including maintenance and fuel.
• Consider the home value angle. A standby generator adds 3% to 5% to home resale value in outage-prone areas — meaning you recover a significant chunk of the cost if you ever sell.

The Backup Power Option Most People Don't Consider Until It's Too Late

Everything above is reactive. You're managing the outage, not preventing the consequences. There's a way to skip all of it.

A standby generator eliminates every scenario in this article. The power goes out, the generator kicks on in 10 to 20 seconds, and your house keeps running. Fridge stays cold. Furnace keeps blowing. Sump pump keeps pumping. CPAP stays on. You might not even know the power went out.

Two types exist:

Standby vs portable: full comparison →

If you go the standby route, you'll need to choose between natural gas and propane — the right answer depends on what's available at your property. You'll also want to understand how transfer switches work, since that's the component that makes automatic startup possible.

The Cost Math

A standby generator costs $7,000 to $20,000 installed. That sounds like a lot until you look at the cost of one bad outage without one:

A single frozen pipe event costs two to three times more than the generator. One event pays for the whole thing.

With proper annual maintenance, a standby generator lasts 20 to 30 years. Amortized over that lifespan, you're paying about $120/month for complete outage protection — less than most people spend on streaming subscriptions.

What does a power outage actually cost? Full breakdown →

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