When I was around 8 or 9 my dad couldn’t pay the power bill and we went a number of days without any, maybe a week or two. I’m having a hard time remember exactly how long. This was during a mild time of year in southern California so no issues temperature-wise. The part I hated most was that your day was effectively over once it got dark out. No reading, no TV, nothing. I remember flipping the light switch over and over thinking that this time, this time, it’d turn the lights on.
Apart from that, maybe a few hours at most due to a power outage.
7 or 8 days, following 2017’s Hurricane Irma (I know it was an I-name storm, so I’m pretty sure it was Irma). As the remnants came through Atlanta, a LOT of trees went down, and a lot of them in my area. I know we were home from work for most if not all of a work week, and when we went back, they opened the student rec center so those of us who still didn’t have power at home could have a hot shower if we wanted.
11 days following Hurricane Isabelle. There were 22 downed utility poles on our road alone. Not many years later we were out 4 days after some kind of construction accident took down some poles with some kind of distribution function at the nearby intersection. Since we have well water and only electric heat, it was a big difficulty. I since bought a big generator.
I’ve done a lot of camping in remote areas, and I love seeing the stars. Once, though, we could see the lights of Las Vegas on the horizon, and it really spoiled the illusion of being truly remote!
A huge storm swept through Ohio in September of 2008 from the remnants of Hurricane Ike. Our power was out for a couple days. The biggest problem was that we had no water; we are on a well. So we had to buy jugs of water to fill up the toilets.
I purchased a 4000 VA generator soon afterwards, and I now use it as a whole-house generator when the power goes out. Best money I’ve ever spent.
In mid-August, 2020, my neighborhood was in the burn zone of the LNU Complex fire(s). I was evacuated on Aug 17 and was sheltered in Skyline Wilderness Park in Napa. Even after I was able to return to my home (thankfully not destroyed) about two weeks later, I lived without electricity until about a week after Labor Day, as the line to my place had been burned and PG&E had a lot more to do than fix my situation.
In Virginia about this time last year we were just getting our electricity back after 3-4 days. It was a big sticky snow storm with lots of wind, trees and powerlines down everywhere. My generator will run the fridge, led lights, and a space heater but it’s rough way to live.
About 12 years ago we got hit with a 12" snow and then another 12" snow right before Christmas. I seem to remember power was out over 5 days for that one, the ground was so saturated with the melting snow that they had to manually replace power poles in the woods. A few years later the power company finally buried the powerlines down my road.
Hurricane Ike left us without electricity for seventeen days in September of 2008.
Everyone ate well during the first week - the smell of grilling and barbecue filled the neighborhood and food was freely shared. I wasn’t the only one who had a full chest freezer.
I live in a rural area, but trees ruin my view of the stars, even on a powerless night. The canopy is so thick I almost never can see the moon from my yard.
When I was a little tacker, about 18 months old, my parents built their home on the property where there was no mains electricity. From Jan 1961 until the mains were connected in Oct 1963, during which time my two younger sisters arrived.
Cooling from kerosene fridges or a Coolgardie safe, cooking on wood stoves, wooden fireplaces. A lighting plant shed produced enough DC current to run a 12V light in four rooms. No electrical appliances in the home.
