New Brunswick’s widespread ice storm is having a major impact beyond the hardest hit areas of the province.
Retailers of generators and woodstoves say they have noticed an increase in sales all over the region since the lights went out.
"Two weeks ago I had 50 to 80 of them here, but now the assortment is down. We're replenishing," said generator retailer Doug Wiggins.
Nine days after the freezing rain stopped, power has still not been completely restored to northern New Brunswick. Generators have been shipped out to the Acadian Peninsula and Moncton since that time.
Retailers say it's a pattern they've seen during other major outages.
"It's comfort. You don't want to be going out to a motel for a few days or a week. You don't want to be imposing on friends and relatives," said Wiggins.
Storms that have knocked thousands of people off the electrical grid for an extended period of time have gone from a bit of a rarity to almost routine. And each time, there's a new flood of homeowners looking for a Plan B, just in case it happens to them.
Wood heat has allowed many people who lost their electricity to stay in their homes. Anyone selling woodstoves is also seeing a spike in interest.
"Almost every year now we're getting a power outage of significant length," said woodstove retailer Darren Fleming. "When there's power outages, we get more flow coming in. We get more phones and people are asking (if) they need electricity for woodstoves. A lot of people don't realize that you don't. The same with propane."
Some say a string of prolonged outages are increasing doubts about the reliability of the electrical grid and driving consumers to look for a backup plan, so they're ready the next time the power goes out.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Mike Cameron.
