3 Unexpected Costs of Power Outages to Homeowners

When the power goes out, it can lead to some fairly expected costs. Your food can go bad (unless it's cold enough outside you can store it in the garage), your medicine can spoil, and if you happen to work at home you can lose out on days of productivity. However, there are other costs that come with power outages, costs you might not think about when you're putting candles and matches on the top shelf of the pantry just in case.

1. Emergency Supplies

While it's all well and good to use the daylight while you have it, emergency supplies will eventually be needed. Whether that's keeping a flashlight with you, lighting some candles, or powering up a radio to get announcements, you're going to have to use these supplies eventually. This is a dual cost, because you need to keep the supplies on-hand in the first place and then you’ll have to replace what you've used once the power comes back on. If you have frequent power outages, you'll go through these supplies at a fairly regular pace.

2. Insurance Costs

As Insurance points out, your homeowner insurance policy often kicks in to help cover some of the costs of power outages. Things like lost food, lost medicines, and other costs are often covered, but insurance companies may alter your rates if your home continually experiences problems. This can lead to increased premiums and other issues on top of your other expenses.

3. Property Damage

Power outages are often accompanied by surges, and those surges can do real damage to your most expensive devices. From television sets, to smartphones, to computers, to kitchen appliances, if it's plugged-in, the device is at risk when a surge happens. While you can take steps to protect your devices, once something happens, it's impossible to un-break it.

At Critter Guard, we know power outages can be a real inconvenience. Our Line Guard and Pole Guard products are designed to protect power lines and utility poles from critter interference, a major cause of power outages. If you're looking for ways to prevent power outages to your home, contact us today to learn more!