It has finally happened, and typically it has happened after my wife and kids arrived. The power failed at home in the middle of the night for several hours. We were trying to get an inverter (domestic UPS) sorted out yesterday. Unfortunately the electrician said the wiring in the flat is not set up properly for a UPS to work so I'll have to work on my landlord to sort that out. I'm not sure whether he will do anything as he has been reluctant to spend much money on anything so far...

Update: The guy who claimed the wiring was not suitable for an inverter was telling porkies! We found another electrician who sold and installed us a different brand of inverter for less than half the price of the first guy.

Another update: It has been announce that in Chennai, everyone will have a scheduled power cut for 1 hour per day to save power. Good thing we got the inverter!