Do you have any ideas as to how bad the power/lack of power situation will get in such big cities as New York and California? What does it mean when cable reception has a decrease in volume, a cracking picture, or inaccessible pay-per-view? I experienced that first. What does it mean when the TV or the computer suddenly goes off? I have been experiencing this lately.

Since I posted this question, two schools of thought have emerged. One claims that those in charge of an area's power grid make decisions to sporadically lower some power from neighborhood to neighborhood or to shut down a particular neighborhood's power entirely. So some folks have advocated that the federal government declare such affected areas disaster areas, if the loss of power gets to be that economically disastrous. The other school of thought claims that ground salt from snowstorms seeped beyond manhole covers and thereby caused damage, which led to power outages. Since the utility involved promised wonderful service, this opens the utility up for lawsuits. Then, someone mentioned that the truth is that the infrastructure of many cities needs repair, a situation which it is not likely to soon get any quick power or financial fix.

One claims that those in charge of an area's power grid make decisions to sporadically lower some power from neighborhood to neighborhood or to shut down a particular neighborhood's power entirely.

Such occurances are called Rolling Blackouts. A reduction of power, intentional or unintentional, is called a Brownout. In a Brownout, there is power, but at a reduced voltage, which may disallow the use of high voltage appliances.

Since the utility involved promised wonderful service, this opens the utility up for lawsuits.

I doubt that such lawsuits would succeed. Unintentional losses of power due to excessive heat or storms would be considered as having been caused by "Acts of God" , and generally not actionable. It also may be that the agreement that the power companies have with the consumers is not a promise to deliver power, but a promise to try to deliver power. (Airlines used to have this condition in their ticket sales. They did not promise to fly you anywhere; they promised to try to get you to your intended destination. I don't know if they still have that stipulation.)

Then, someone mentioned that the truth is that the infrastructure of many cities needs repair, a situation which it is not likely to soon get any quick power or financial fix.

This is undoubtedly true of most cities.

Concerning the act of God, I am still scratching my head as to how the snowstorm salt suddenly this year got beyond the manhole covers. I have to admit that the thoughts of sabotage by a competitor or of an act of terrorism crept into my head.

While I know nothing about your situation other thab what you have told me, I do know that the cumulative corrosive effect of salt on object such as power lines and switching boxes could be very great.