Well now I live in Berlin and I'm not sure if I've experienced a power outage in 3 years. I remember a Swiss guy from Zurich that had only experience a one minute power outage in his entire life through 18 before moving out of the country. I met him in Nairobi and there electricity was out pretty much daily and a generator was de rigeur. I've lived in suburban America and never had a generator but my parents were 'pioneer stock' and we knew the methods: candles, fridge access extremely limited, warm blankets if Winter, etc...