In September 2020, a rare inland windstorm packing hurricane-force gusts tore across northern Utah, snapping thousands of trees and power poles and leaving parts of the Wasatch Front (Salt Lake City, Bountiful, Ogden) without electricity for days. Utah has no regional grid operator; Rocky Mountain Power runs the grid across most of the state on the Western interconnection, so when its lines go down, there’s no neighboring operator waiting to flip you back on. That windstorm was the dramatic version of a routine problem: winter storms and heavy mountain snow bring down lines every year, and losing heat in a Utah cold snap is a genuine safety risk. If you’re already comparing Utah solar quotes, it helps to know a grid-tied rooftop system shuts off in any outage (anti-islanding rules) unless you also have storage, so panels alone won’t keep the heat on. The pick for most Utah homes is the Jackery HomePower 3000, and the rest of this guide explains why and when to size up.
Two real Utah outages, two different causes
The first is the windstorm. On the afternoon of 7 September 2020, a surge of cold air from Canada unleashed damaging winds across northern Utah, with gusts of 99 mph in Farmington and 112 mph at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. By midday on 8 September about 185,000 Rocky Mountain Power customers were out of service, roughly 170,000 of them in Utah, with the rest in Idaho and Wyoming. On the morning of Thursday 10 September more than 100,000 had been restored but more than 66,000 were still dark. By Sunday 13 September about 8,800 customers remained out, with more than 92% of those affected back on. Utah declared a state of emergency, and the National Guard helped clear debris. A week is a long time in September, and an even longer one in January.
The second is the wildfire shutoff, and it is now a regular feature of southern Utah summers. In June 2025 Rocky Mountain Power warned that a public safety power shutoff would affect about 18,000 customers on Saturday 21 June, expected to run from around 7am to 7pm. In late June 2026 it went further, issuing a 48-hour watch for about a dozen southern Utah communities including Cedar City, Milford, Moab, Price and Vernal, and cutting power to more than 7,700 customers. A spokesperson said it was the third such watch in four years. The utility’s wildfire plan allows it to de-energize lines during red-flag warnings, so this is a risk that now comes with advance notice, which only helps if the battery is already charged.
Two different triggers, wind and fire, and both left customers with no say in when the lights came back.
What the 2020 windstorm exposed
The homes that came through it best weren’t the ones with the biggest gas generators: they were the ones that could keep a furnace’s blower, a fridge, and a few lights running quietly without hunting for fuel in a town where every gas station was also dark. That’s the everyday-outage tier, and the HomePower 3000 fills it: about 3,072Wh and 3,600W output, enough for those essentials for one to two days, with included solar panels that recharge it in Utah’s strong high-elevation sun between storms.
Current price of the HomePower 3000 at Jackery (panels included)
What a Utah outage actually costs in energy
Size against energy used per day, not the wattage printed on the box. These are typical figures; check the label on your own appliances.
| Load | Typical draw | Energy per day |
|---|---|---|
| Fridge/freezer | ~150W running (cycling) | ~1,200Wh |
| Wi-Fi router | ~10W | ~240Wh |
| LED lights (ten bulbs) | ~50W | ~300Wh (6 hrs) |
| Phone and laptop charging | ~20 to 60W | ~150 to 250Wh |
| Gas furnace blower (cold snap) | ~400 to 600W while running | ~3,000 to 5,000Wh in deep cold |
| Window AC (St. George summer) | ~900 to 1,200W while running | ~4,000 to 6,000Wh |
| Electric furnace, heat pump or central AC (240V) | ~2,000 to 3,500W | ~8,000 to 14,000Wh |
Fridge, lights, Wi-Fi and phones add up to roughly 1,900 to 2,000Wh a day. Here is how long each unit lasts on its stored charge alone, before any sun comes back, allowing for about 15% lost in conversion.
| Unit | Stored energy | Essentials only (~1,950Wh/day) | Fridge alone | Furnace blower (~500W) | A window AC cycling (~700W average) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HomePower 3000 | 3,072Wh | about 1.3 days | about 2 days | about 5 hours | about 3.5 hours |
| HomePower 3600 Plus | 3,584Wh | about 1.6 days | about 2.5 days | about 6 hours | about 4.5 hours |
| Solar Generator 5000 Plus | 5,040Wh | about 2.2 days | about 3.5 days | about 8.5 hours | about 6 hours |
Notice what that says about winter. A furnace blower in a deep cold snap eats a battery in hours, which is why the panels matter, and why running just the blower on a schedule, with the fridge and lights, is a better plan than trying to run everything. Utah’s high-elevation sun is strong even in winter, so a clear afternoon after a storm can put real charge back.
Sizing up for a bigger home or a colder snap
If your house is larger, or your heating load is heavier, the Solar Generator 5000 Plus is the one to size around: 5,040Wh and 7,200W with both 120V and 240V, expandable to 60kWh. It can run a furnace blower alongside several rooms, or absorb the startup surge of bigger appliances, through a multi-day Provo or Cedar City outage. See the Solar Generator 5000 Plus specs and price at Jackery.
Between the two sits the HomePower 3600 Plus: 3,584Wh, 3,600W, expandable to 21kWh, and able to tie into your home’s circuits through a transfer switch. It runs the gas furnace’s blower, the fridge, lights, and Wi-Fi through a Salt Lake City snowstorm or a St. George heat wave, with room to add batteries for more runtime. See the HomePower 3600 Plus specs and price at Jackery.
| Unit | Capacity / output | Best for in Utah |
|---|---|---|
| HomePower 3000 | 3,072Wh, 3,600W, panels included | Furnace blower, fridge, lights and Wi-Fi for one to two days |
| HomePower 3600 Plus | 3,584Wh, 3,600W, expandable to 21kWh | A transfer-switch setup on essential circuits through a windstorm or wildfire shutoff |
| Solar Generator 5000 Plus | 5,040Wh, 7,200W, 120V/240V, expandable to 60kWh | Larger homes, 240V loads, or a long cold snap |
Utah’s geography also shapes the choice. The Wasatch Front homes hit hardest in 2020 tend to run gas furnaces, so a mid-size unit that covers the blower and essentials is usually enough up north. In St. George and the southwest corner, summer heat and wildfire shutoffs are the bigger concern, which nudges those homes toward more cooling capacity.
Solar versus a gas generator
- Indoor safety and carbon monoxide. A battery station vents nothing and can run indoors when it’s too cold or windy to set a generator outside. A gas generator has to run outdoors, well away from windows.
- Noise. About 30 decibels versus 60 to 90.
- Fuel. The battery is charged before the event and refills from the sun after. In 2020 the stations were dark along with everything else.
- Wildfire risk. A running gas engine is a hot ignition source in dry brush on exactly the red-flag days that trigger shutoffs.
- Maintenance. Oil, carburetor and test runs for gas. A monthly top-up for the battery.
- What gas still does better. A very long outage with no sun, and whole-house 240V at a lower upfront cost.
Compare all Jackery home backup options.
Set-up checklist before winter and fire season
- Charge to full and top up monthly. Do it again when a shutoff watch or a big storm is forecast for your area.
- Keep it indoors in a closet or utility room, away from freezing garages in winter and baking ones in summer.
- Write down which loads go on it. Furnace blower, fridge, router, one lamp per room. Tape the list to the unit.
- Buy extension cords rated for the load. A short 12-gauge cord for the fridge and blower.
- Test your list on the battery once so the first time is not during an outage.
- Keep the panels accessible, and clear snow off them for daylight recharging.
- Pair the HomePower 3600 Plus with a transfer switch for hardwired circuits. Licensed electrician only.
- Check how your home heats. A gas furnace is easy; electric baseboard or a heat pump needs the 5000 Plus.
- Keep a battery-powered CO alarm regardless. A neighbor’s gas generator can still put CO in your house.
Not sure which size fits? List what has to stay on, add up the watts, and match it to a unit with headroom to spare.
Keep reading: Utah solar incentives & costs · Best solar generators for home backup (Colorado) · Best solar generators for home backup (Nevada)