The article assumes incorrectly that the power grid would be down forever and a day. Totally false and crappy journalism at its worst. Most if not all generating power plants have the option of operating in island mode whereby portions of the grid can be isolated and powered by these island-mode power plants. There is no need to synch to the total grid. FYI, Texas is isolated to some extent from the rest of the USA grid. The author totally disregards backup generators as well.

Personally I have prepared for a power outage of up to a week. I have a propane-powered generator and enough propane in bottles to last a week. Propane does not go bad like our ethanol degraded gasoline. The gasoline/propane generator cost less than $400 off ebay and is electric start to boot. I ran the generator on gasoline for a tank to break in the rings and then totally removed all gasoline/ethanol from it. The only place for ethanol is in my beer and Wild Turkey 101.

More info on island mode: https://www.ixquick.eu/do/dsearch?query=power+plant+island+mode&cat=web&pl=opensearch&language=english

Even natural gas needs pumps to send it through the pipes. That will also run out eventually. So make sure you have winter sleeping bags for cold nights. And plenty of blankets.

One Second After is a great book that plays this out. Definitely worth a read.