Blackout simulator
Answer 12 questions in four steps and find out how long your household would last in a power outage, and what you are still missing.
- 1Home
- 2Infra
- 3Status
- 4Scenario
- 5Result
How the simulation works
The simulator combines your answers about your home, infrastructure, supplies and scenario into a deterministic calculation. The same answers always lead to exactly the same result: no random values, no cherry-picking.
Your input produces a timeline of the cascade: which systems fail when, and what follows. From that the simulator derives your resilience score from 0 to 100. The score measures how far your household is from the civil protection guideline (10 days of supplies, grid-independent information, backup heating).
Data basis
The simulation follows the recommendations of Germany's Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK), which are in line with FEMA and other agencies on the essentials: 2 liters of drinking water per person per day, food for several days, a battery or hand-crank radio. It also draws on documented outages such as the Iberian blackout of 2025 and on grid operator specifications for the backup power of cell towers and waterworks.
What the score really shows
The score is not a survival certificate. It is a sober comparison of your status quo with the guidelines. Below 25 means you cannot cope without outside help. 25 to 50: considerable gaps. 50 to 75: largely in line with the guidelines. Over 75: resilient, even for longer outages.
Frequently asked questions
How long does an average household last in a power outage?
Without preparation it gets critical after 12 to 24 hours: the refrigerator warms up, phone batteries run empty, and in many apartment buildings the water stops with the pressure pumps. Civil protection agencies recommend being able to bridge at least 72 hours on your own.
What fails first in a blackout?
Lights, heating (gas and oil boilers need power for pump and controls too) and electronic payment go first. After a few hours the cell towers follow, their backup batteries usually last 30 minutes to a few hours. In high-rise buildings the water fails early.
Is a large-scale blackout realistic?
A nationwide blackout lasting days is unlikely in most industrialized countries. Regional outages of several hours or days are real, as the Iberian blackout of April 2025 and the four-day outage in Berlin in January 2026 showed. Sober preparation for about 72 hours makes sense, panic does not.