Just picked up Ted Koppel's new book, "Lights Out", haven't read it yet, but he says our electrical grid WILL get hacked and shut down at some time.
I was well aware of a Solar Flare, Electromagnetic pulse type of shutdown, but Kopple was saying that hackers could shut us down for months.
With the Billions that the newest terrorist threat has at their disposal, some serious hackers could be hired.
I hate to go overboard preparing for a shut down, but solar panels are suddenly quite efficient, and very affordable, I keep putting it off, but I need to check into a basic setup. Just being able to run a water pump, and a few basic appliances could make a huge difference.