Are you having a difficult time understanding if your home insurance policy covers power outages? If so, you are not the only one in the dark.

Your coverage depends largely on where you live, your provider, and of course, your particular home insurance policy.

Whether or not you are covered also depends largely on the cause of the outage.

Here are several situations that you may face as well as some advice that can help clear the air.

1. Lightning Hits Your Home and Damages Your Electronics

This happens more often than most people want to believe. Typically, your home insurance policy should cover any damage related to a lightning strike.

Some policies may also cover damage as a result of other power surges.

Tip: Your policy may have a limit as to how much money you can receive for each damaged electronic item.

2. Do You Need to Stay in a Hotel While Your Home is Being Repaired?

If your home is struck with lightning there is a very good chance that your answer is yes. This could result in a covered loss, such as a fire.

As long as your home is deemed uninhabitable, your policy will likely cover your hotel stay. On the other hand, if are dealing with a simple power outage don’t expect your insurance company to step in.

3. No Power Can Mean Freezing Pipes

And as you know, when pipes freeze there is a chance they could burst. If this happens, your home policy will cover any damage. That being said, if you don’t make any attempt to heat your home you may be left out in the cold.

4. Food Spoilage

As crazy as it sounds, most home insurance policies cover food spoilage as long as the power was out due to a covered loss. This could be anything from a car hitting your home and knocking out power to a tree falling on an electrical line.

Although your policy may offer this coverage, most people don’t opt to make a claim. Instead, they simply “chalk up the loss” and restock their refrigerator when their power is restored.

Contact Your Insurer

At this point, you should feel better about being covered in the result of a power outage. However, you should never believe that you are covered for all the situations above until you contact your home insurance agent and discuss your policy in further detail.

But my power never goes out! Although you may have been lucky in the past, you never know what the future holds. It is better to know what you are covered against than to guess and hope for the best.

Final Tip: Since you never know when disaster could strike your home, buy a generator. This will at least help you power some areas of your home, even when the electricity in your area is completely out. Yes, it costs money upfront but if you ever find yourself in this position you will be glad you made the purchase. It may even save you from making a home insurance claim as well as paying the deductible that comes along with it.