Since each increase in uptime costs so much, requires peaker plants, and makes intermittent renewables harder, I experimented with living more resiliently. After all, the reverse works too: each decrease in uptime saves huge costs, relaxes needs for peaker plants, and makes intermittent renewables more feasible.
Most of the world can handle some downtime. Electric power didn't exist for most of human existence. We've become more needy, dependent, and entitled. I suspected that living more resiliently would improve my life.
It did. My last three electric bills were $1.40, $1.70, and $1.70 (plus tax and fixed connection costs). That's living in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. I wrote up some of my experience here, with scans of my bills: https://joshuaspodek.com/i-used-2-5-the-average-americans-el....
I don't expect many people to reach this level of resilience and stewardship, but we don't have to to decrease our insane entitlement to such uptime. A few cultural changes and we could lower our grid costs tremendously while improving our quality of life.