@Sarah977
WOW, I guess every area has it's issues.....ours is electricity.
Murphys law says if there is going to be a power outage it will be when there is no solar production happening.
To complicate matters still further because this state is moving to a green/renewable based power supply, at times of heavy demand we have to put up with 'load sharing' where the authorities control supply to areas on a rotation basis to keep usage within the available supply.
And lastly on days of catastrophic bushfire danger with high winds and hot temperatures the power will be shut off from wooded areas where there is a danger of arking across the supply cables.
Although I sold our motorhome some years ago I kept the 2.5 kva Honda petrol gen plant which I keep in good condition on standby. It has the capacity to run the airconditiong, fridge, TV and lighting in the cottage and a few essential bit of equipment in the house.
I simply flick the mains supply switch off and plug the generator into a supply outlet on the distribution board and leave the generator to handle a couple of important circuits until mains supply is restored.
Although we can produce a substantial amount of solar power here, the mains supply is wired through a smart meter so that in times of power interruption the solar supply is also isolated. This is done to make sure technicians working on the problem don't get zapped by solar being fed back into the grid!
We all have our cross to bare Sarah!
Cheers........Rob