A neighborhood power outage can happen at any time. Statistics show that most outages are caused by strong storms, but your home could also lose power due to high winds, equipment failures down the line, peak use delivery interruptions and a host of other unanticipated failures of the system.

If you depend solely on the power grid to keep your home powered, you're rolling the dice with your family's safety and security. Just think about it: when the power goes off, your home goes dark. Your refrigerator becomes an ice box, just like the ones your grandparents told you about. Your security system goes down, as does your internet connection - and once your cell phone batteries drain there's no way to charge them again.

You're left with this dilemma: hunker down and wait out the restoration of power by your utility service (and who knows how long that will take), or abandon your home and move your family to temporary living quarters, at considerable expense. Meanwhile, your home remains at the mercy of anyone who wanders by with a brick big enough to break out a window.