This is something that I have thought about quite a bit for a few reasons. Something that was brought up while reading James Wesley Rawles' book "Patriots" is the danger of power outages and the prison population. Prisons are equipt with generators just in case of such a situation however the problem is that if those generators go out, which they eventually will, what happens to the prisoners? Everything in the prison is controlled electronically so once those electromagnetic locks go out.......you've got prisoners loose!
With me being just a few miles from a state prison.......this has MASSIVE implications for me! We are the nearest town to where they are at so you can bet they will be heading this way.
When you also factor in the nature of the why the electric system is down, you also have other things to worry about. If the grid were to go down with an EMP, you are also talking about your cars not working either. Therefore if you are away from your supplies, you are screwed! This is the reason I always have and suggest to others to always have a day pack in your vehicle with supplies to keep you alive for a few days. That pack should also include weapons to keep you alive as well because depending on where you are.......there could certianly be chaos. With people being as dependent as they are on electricity, they would most likely freak out.