3 Planned Power Outages Hit Thursday (Oct 22): The 10-Minute Backup-Power Checklist

Thursday, October 22 is a busy day for utility crews: three separate planned power outages will switch off the lights in Tennessee, Texas, and Michigan. None of them is an emergency — that's exactly the point. A planned outage is a free rehearsal for the unplanned kind, and it takes about ten minutes tonight to be ready.

Here's what's happening, what to do tonight, and the honest backup-power math that covers any outage — planned or not.

The three outages

1. Oak Ridge, Tennessee — Thursday 1:00–4:00 a.m.

The City of Oak Ridge Electric Department is replacing a high-voltage switch that it says is close to failing — proactive work to avoid a bigger failure later. Power goes off around 1 a.m. and should be back by 4 a.m. for homes on the north side of Oak Ridge Turnpike, from New York Avenue to Melton Lake Drive. Methodist Medical Center is not affected. (Source: Oak Ridger)

2. Wood County, Texas — Thursday 9:00 a.m., about 1 hour

Wood County Electric Cooperative will cut power to roughly 515 meters in the Lake Quitman / Muddy Creek area starting at 9 a.m. for equipment maintenance — expected to last about an hour. The co-op asks members to turn off HVAC systems when the outage starts and wait at least 15 minutes after power returns before switching them back on, so post-restoration surges don't trip circuits. (Source: Wood County Electric Cooperative)

3. Wexford County, Michigan — Thursday 11:00 p.m. to Friday 5:00 a.m.

Consumers Energy is upgrading its Stony Corners substation, which means an overnight outage for about 1,900 customers in and around Stony Corners, southeast of Cadillac between Cadillac and McBain (roughly East County Line Road north to M-55, west to U.S. 131). Backup date: Thursday, Oct. 29, if weather intervenes. (Source: 9&10 News)

The 10-minute checklist (do it tonight)

1. Charge everything. Phones, laptops, power banks, flashlights. A dead flashlight during a 3 a.m. outage is the most avoidable problem in this list.
2. Fridge and freezer: turn them to their coldest setting tonight, keep the doors shut during the outage, and have a cooler with ice packs ready if you're in Michigan's six-hour window. A full freezer holds temperature for ~48 hours unopened; a half-full one, ~24.
3. HVAC: take Wood County's advice everywhere — switch heating/cooling off before the outage window and wait 15 minutes after power returns before turning it back on. Compressor restarts during voltage fluctuations are how equipment dies.
4. Medical devices: CPAP, oxygen concentrators, powered wheelchairs — a planned outage is the one kind you can prepare for. Charge batteries now; know your runtime (see the math below).
5. Work from home: if the outage overlaps your workday (hello, Wood County at 9 a.m.), tether from your phone and save your work. Tell your team in advance — "planned utility maintenance" is the most forgivable out-of-office reason there is.
6. Unplug the expensive stuff — TVs, computers, game consoles. Restoration surges are real, and a $15 surge protector is cheaper than a new motherboard.

The honest backup-power math

Here's the only formula that matters:

Runtime (hours) ≈ battery Wh ÷ device watts

A modern fridge draws ~150W while the compressor runs, but it cycles — average draw is roughly a third of that, ~50W. So:

• 960Wh station ÷ 50W fridge ≈ 19 hours of refrigeration — or about 10–12 hours running fridge + lights + phones + laptop.
• A CPAP draws 40–60W → a 960Wh station runs it 16+ hours. That covers Michigan's full overnight window with room to spare.
• 1024Wh station: fridge + freezer + a few lights for roughly a day.
• 3456Wh station: essentials for 2–3 days — that's unplanned-outage territory, not a 1-hour maintenance window.

Want the full runtime tables? Our fridge-clock guide walks through exactly how long a power station lasts in a real outage, appliance by appliance.

Three real options (prices verified tonight)

No scare tactics: for Thursday's planned outages, a charged phone and a cooler will do. But if you'd rather own the solution before the unplanned outage — the ice storm, the failed switch, the substation fire — these are in stock and US-voltage (110–120V), ready to ship:

1. The starter: 960Wh Portable Power Station — $247.07

960Wh Portable Power Station (2000W surge)

Four 110V AC outlets, 100W USB-C fast charging, LiFePO4 battery. Runs a fridge through any of Thursday's outages with hours to spare, or a CPAP all night. This is the "sleep through the Michigan outage" option at the lowest price in our catalog.

2. The sweet spot: Cube 1000 — 2200W AC, 1024Wh — $436.58

Cube 1000 Portable Power Station

2200W of AC output (120V) with an expandable 1024Wh LiFePO4 battery — enough to run a fridge and a freezer and the lights, or to keep a home office alive through a full workday outage. Expandable means you add battery capacity later instead of buying a second unit.

3. The whole-home anchor: ALLPOWERS R4000 — 3456Wh — $1,720.45

ALLPOWERS R4000 Portable Power Station

3456Wh with 100–240V output and 6000W surge — this is the unit for people who've decided outages are a when, not an if. Two to three days of essentials, solar-rechargeable so an extended outage doesn't end when the battery does. Pair it with panels and Thursday's one-hour maintenance window becomes a non-event you watch from the couch.

The bigger point

Planned outages are increasing — utilities are doing more proactive maintenance, more substation upgrades, more switch replacements, because the alternative is the unplanned kind. Oak Ridge's crew said it plainly: the old switch was close to failing, so they're replacing it now, on a schedule, at 1 a.m. That's good utility work. But it means your power now depends on a maintenance calendar you don't control.

We wrote about this pattern after the PJM grid emergency earlier this month and again in our planned-shutoff prep guide: the cheapest time to buy backup power is before you need it, and the best test of your setup is an outage you saw coming. Thursday is that test.

Charge your station tonight — a $1,700 battery at 0% is a paperweight. Run the fridge off it for an hour during the outage window. That's the rehearsal. When the unplanned outage comes, you'll already know your runtime, your load order, and that everything works.

The bottom line

Three states, three maintenance windows, zero emergencies — Thursday's outages are the easy kind, and a ten-minute checklist covers them. But every planned outage is a reminder: the grid needs maintenance, maintenance needs shutdowns, and the next shutdown might not come with a news release. Size a station to your fridge and your essentials, keep it charged, and outages become an inconvenience instead of a crisis.

Free shipping on every order (arrives in 1–2 weeks), and code WELCOME10 or INSTA20 takes 10–20% off. Not sure what size you need? Read why backup power beats bill savings first — we'd rather talk you out of the wrong machine than sell you one.