Yes, they could come with the money but it’d require sacrifices elsewhere. More importantly, however, that’s like saying the cost of car ownership is the purchase price of the vehicle: you don’t just buy a generator once and leave it untouched for decades - you need to have somewhere safe to operate it, store clean fuel safely, test it regularly, have your electrical system modified to allow a switchover, make sure to winterize in most of the country, etc. Every year people have fires, shorts, carbon monoxide poisoning, or unexpected outages from some detail of that going wrong.
Now, consider who tends to have the greatest problems when the power goes out for an extended period of time: the elderly, poor, and disabled people who have the most challenges doing that. Saying that everyone should maintain their own personal auxiliary power supply so the energy providers can be more profitable is the same as saying that it’s okay for those people to die because they aren’t rich enough.
> you need to have somewhere safe to operate it, store clean fuel safely, test it regularly, have your electrical system modified to allow a switchover, make sure to winterize in most of the country, etc.
It's bad, but not quite that bad. The person who suggested a generator was talking about the case of people who have some life threatening condition that they need electricity to survive.
In most cases that will mean they only have to use the generator to power a small number of things. In that case they don't need to modify their electrical system. They can power their things from the generator's normal household outlets. They just need long enough extension cords to get from wherever they have to put the generator to their life saving devices.
They'd probably only need a small generator, maybe a couple thousand watts. Those are light enough (20ish kg) and small enough (small suitcase sized) that it should be easy to store indoors when not actually in use. That should get rid of most of the hassle of winterizing.
Go for a propane generator instead of a gasoline generator. They produce much less dangerous emissions than gasoline generators so should be easier to find someplace safe to operate. Also stored propane does not go bad over time, like stored gasoline, so you don't need to rotate your fuel. Propane tanks are also safer than gasoline tanks so propane is easier to store safely.
Yeah, it’s definitely not impossible but my point was that the people most a risk during a power outage also are least likely to be able to deal with that. If you’re a senior citizen living on a tight income, it’s one more thing to pay someone else to help with.
Yeah, it’s kinda like healthcare, just put out the hat when you get sick and all your friends and family kick in, right? There are actually a lot of people who think that’s a viable solution.
But wait, it’s not a viable solution for everyone. So we build organizations which formalize this commitment in the form of a monthly payment.
After a while this becomes predatory and sharp, and the need emerges for this to be formally socialized as a part of living in society.
Sure, that works for many people. There were still hundreds of Texans who that fatally did not work for just the 2021 failure alone. Public policy generally works best if you focus on the people who don’t have the reserves & support network to absorb a failure.
Now, consider who tends to have the greatest problems when the power goes out for an extended period of time: the elderly, poor, and disabled people who have the most challenges doing that. Saying that everyone should maintain their own personal auxiliary power supply so the energy providers can be more profitable is the same as saying that it’s okay for those people to die because they aren’t rich enough.