Most of us take electricity for granted. It’s a commodity we naturally assume will always be there.
Flick a light switch and you can see where you are going, turn on the radio and you can listen to the latest best-selling tunes, without realising it, your home and you are totally dependent on electrical power sources.
Say you had a day without electricity though. Suppose the power was down, you had no emergency back-up, and you had to cope for 24 hours, what would this mean to you?
In the vast majority of cases people would feel utterly lost, electricity and water, are two of the main utilities we need the most.
To put this into some kind of perspective, here’s a breakdown of everyday items you take for granted, when it fact, they’re a luxury that rely on electricity.
Table, wall and ceiling lights
Years ago if you wanted light in your home after dark you relied on candles or gas. Today we use electricity, at the click of a switch the interior of your property is bathed in light. Take away the power supply and you have to revert back to basics. This is why it’s a good idea to keep spare candles and battery powered torches on standby, just in case there’s a blackout after hours.
Showers
What do you rely on to wake you up in the morning? Apart from a hot mug of coffee, how about a refreshing power shower? This tingly torrent of water awakens your senses, it’ll spring you out of that slumber – you leave the bathroom fully awake, ready to face the day. Without electricity your power shower lacks heat, which is fine if you want to stand their freezing, but not so nice if you love to experience warm jets of water bouncing off your skin.
Kitchen Appliances
The kitchen would quickly grind to a halt without electricity. Fridges and freezers would stop working for starters. You wouldn’t be able to operate washing machines, tumble dryers, electric ovens or hobs. Forget about the microwave, kettle or toaster too, they’d be useless, along with coffee machines, juicers, mixers or electric-powered Panini presses. Most of your kitchen relies on electricity, if you were lucky, you’d have a gas hob to see you through.
Internet
WiFi or Ethernet connections are common around the house. Your mobile phone, personal PCs, laptops and tablets connect to the internet and without electricity you can’t connect to the world-wide web. Plus that super swanky Smart TV would be pretty useless too. There’d be no access to Netflix, Amazon or NOWTV and you couldn’t shop online for goods either, all you’d see is a big black, 50-inch screen.
Central heating and air conditioning
Some homes are powered by warm air central heating. Others rely on electric underfloor heating to pass warmth throughout the premises. If your house has an electrical heating supply, it’s going to get fairly nippy, really quickly, when the power is lost and you don’t have a standby. Warmth is something else we take for granted. There are only so many outer layers you can wear in a bid to combat the cold.
Personal gadgets and gizmos
Modern homes are full of gadgets designed to entertain us and keep us amused. This can vary from personal iPods to hand-held gaming devices – it can include popular games consoles, MP3 players, iPads and smartphones. All of these devices need a power supply to charge them up. Once the battery is dead that’s game over, until you can connect them to an electrical source.
Transport
Motability scooters, electric bikes and cell powered vehicles such as the Nissan Leaf rely on electricity they need it, for a quick recharge. Without an electrical to charge battery powered vehicles you’d be left stranded, causing a major inconvenience to daily transport routines.
You’d probably be able to last a day without electricity. Extend that period to a few days or more though and you’d start to struggle. Why put yourself through this when emergency power is the sensible solution to a short-term or long-term electrical crisis!
