No you don't. I live in the same situation. Remote mountain village. We lose power a few times a year for at least a day, often up to 3 days. Summer will be caused by wind or forest fire. Winter is due to massive snowfall events. We get that almost every year. Our problem is we are at the end of the line. No "grid" here.
A few have generators but most of us get by with wood heat, headlamps, and not opening the fridge more than needed. 3 days without power the food, fridge, freezer are fine. We never open the freezer during a power outage. No different than overlanding, keep the freezer full of frozen food, it'll stay frozen for weeks without power.
Its kinda cool to live as our ancestors did every day. We have one old fashioned telephone, the kind that work and ring without power.
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A few times, the RCMP are asking around for gasoline since power outages here close the 4 village gas stations.
Trout Lake does not have that issue. Gas Pumps.... Gravity Pumps.... powered by a hand pump.
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