@smudges Agreed. That is why I do it before the storm hits.
Also, around here very few homes are heated with electricity. Most have either a natural gas or oil fired furnace. The electricity used is only for powering the stats, igniting the flame, and running the circulators. That takes very little power.
I have 2 generators that I use in emergencies: a very small, (20 pound0, 1100 watt unit and a large 4400 watt. When I lose power I start the 1100 watt unit. That is enough to power my refrigerator, sump pump, and my furnace. If it is going to be a long outage I will turn on the big one and power my house.
If I had electric heat I would need at least a 15,000 watt generator.
I also have 2 wood burning stoves . Both are big enough to heat my entire house.
@chyna. If you want to take it further and find out how much it really costs you , look at your heating bills for a season and total the usage. That is easy for me since I have oil heat and it is not used for anything else.
In my case say I bought 800 gallons last year. Then you look at the National Weather Service to see how many heating degree days you had at your location last year. Lets say in my case it was 6400 HDD for last year. Therefore I get 6400HDD/800 gallons = 8 HDD per gallon. A gallon of oil costs about $2.20 for 8 degree difference.
So 10 Heating degree days costs me 10/8 x $2.20 =. $2.75..
This method is an estimate but it is pretty darn close since it takes into account your entire heating season. Think of it as measuring your car fuel economy, not by just measuring one fill-up but rather tracking it for an entire 3000 mile cross country trip.