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I asked my home insurance company if all of my electronics were covered in case of damage from such an event. They said yes. Are they unaware of how big an expe

I asked my home insurance company if all of my electronics were covered in case of damage from such an event. They said yes. Are they unaware of how big an expense this would be for all of their insurers?

Rebelgecko 6y ago
My understanding is that these sorts of events are most dangerous to very long cables (miles long, like telegraph cables or power lines). Unless there's surges as transformers blow up, your electronics at home should be fairly safe.
- graderjs 6y ago
  I think that's only true for small events. Big ones destroy everything, like a global EMP. Plus there's the fires from exploding transformers and other stuff on the grid. But big ones are more rare. Maybe this 2012 near miss killshot drained our quota for the next century. Here's hoping. Still the sun is just now entering solar cycle 25, so the period of solar quiet is coming to an end.
crispyporkbites 6y ago
I think you know the real answer to both your question to the insurer and your 2nd question.
at-fates-hands 6y ago
I think they just updated the National Electric Code so that newer homes need to have Type 1 or Type 2 surge protection devices. The guy on the radio show I was listening to was talking about how this is a "whole home" surge protection. I'm not sure if this would cover you in an event like this though.
Nextgrid 6y ago
Insurers also sold "business interruption insurance" which claimed to cover things like business interruption due to a pandemic by SARS or similar respiratory viruses (virii?) and once Covid hit they declined to pay (some cases are being litigated right now but it's likely to take years for a verdict to be reached).
disown 6y ago
> Are they unaware of how big an expense this would be for all of their insurers? Yes but they think the likelihood of such events happening is nil. If it did occur and they had to pay-out for all the electronics of all their customers, then they'd simply refuse to pay. If they got taken to court and they were forced to pay, then they'd declare bankrupty and it would be a government problem then. Insurance is great for limited disasters/issues. For wide-ranging systematic issues, insurance is a scam because they simply cannot make all their customers whole. Just like banks are great as long as everyone doesn't cash out. If everyone decides to cash out, then banks start to look scammy.

Rebelgecko 6y ago

My understanding is that these sorts of events are most dangerous to very long cables (miles long, like telegraph cables or power lines). Unless there's surges as transformers blow up, your electronics at home should be fairly safe.

graderjs 6y ago
I think that's only true for small events. Big ones destroy everything, like a global EMP. Plus there's the fires from exploding transformers and other stuff on the grid. But big ones are more rare. Maybe this 2012 near miss killshot drained our quota for the next century. Here's hoping. Still the sun is just now entering solar cycle 25, so the period of solar quiet is coming to an end.

crispyporkbites 6y ago

I think you know the real answer to both your question to the insurer and your 2nd question.

at-fates-hands 6y ago

I think they just updated the National Electric Code so that newer homes need to have Type 1 or Type 2 surge protection devices. The guy on the radio show I was listening to was talking about how this is a "whole home" surge protection. I'm not sure if this would cover you in an event like this though.

Nextgrid 6y ago

Insurers also sold "business interruption insurance" which claimed to cover things like business interruption due to a pandemic by SARS or similar respiratory viruses (virii?) and once Covid hit they declined to pay (some cases are being litigated right now but it's likely to take years for a verdict to be reached).

disown 6y ago

> Are they unaware of how big an expense this would be for all of their insurers? Yes but they think the likelihood of such events happening is nil. If it did occur and they had to pay-out for all the electronics of all their customers, then they'd simply refuse to pay. If they got taken to court and they were forced to pay, then they'd declare bankrupty and it would be a government problem then. Insurance is great for limited disasters/issues. For wide-ranging systematic issues, insurance is a scam because they simply cannot make all their customers whole. Just like banks are great as long as everyone doesn't cash out. If everyone decides to cash out, then banks start to look scammy.