The reason the power grid would go down isn't that all the power plants would be trashed immediately. The grid itself is what would fail. It's difficult keeping a complex power grid running when there are erratic swings in the power usage. It's a complex electrical engineering problem that requires foresight to avoid blackouts. The utilities don't expect everyone to turn on their lights at midnight when the zombies strike. And getting the power grid back online is a whole other headache that requires the self starting plants and the plants which require an outside jump to act in coordination, hard to do during the apocalypse. If you are in a region dependent on coal and nuclear power, it's not inconceivable that sabotage or bad luck could take out the power pretty quickly and the chaos would keep it down. On the other hand, if there was a small local plant it might be realistic to isolate it from the grid and restore local power. Or if you are in a region with a lot of green power the grid would probably intermittently come on and off again until all the solar cells overheat and stop working or the windmills connections to the grid shut down. If you're in Las Vegas the Hoover Dam would probably stay on unless someone deliberately took it out. Coal power is the vast majority of power in North America and the majority in most regions of Europe.
That's... off topic, I think. If electricity were to be added, I'd say it would last at most a week with little maintenance. If generators and electricity in general were added, refrigerators would be more than just barricades. Course, I'm sure that's going to be added in the future seeing as how fridges are already in there.
ANYWAY! Some highlights from my new game, nothing spoily, well except the second picture.
I am Victoria Smith, these last names still boggle me. Started in a green center. I got too used to bunking down in a single area; these new food spoilage features have me on a nomadic survival style.
You know even in a post apocalyptic world, new settlements eventually pop-up. I'd like to see some sorta semi-safe districts prop up after a week or two.
edit: text is at the bottom of the pictures.
Day 1, hour 21: Found a gun shop and stocked up on as much rifle ammo as feasible. I had to leave after people started starving and becoming zombies.
Day 3, Hour 18: What, The, FUCK!? O.K., something is wrong with these new zombie evolution rules. I've seen about two disciples on my last guy (nothing special about him) and now two neophytes in the same area!? WTF.
Day 3, Hour 18: Don't travel to new districts at night.
Day 4, Hour 9: OH THANK MOTHERFUCKING GOD! These rations will last a very good time. I just need to make sure I eat them sparingly.
Day 4, Hour 15: My current standings.
O.K., the new version is much harder thanks due in part to the new food spoilage feature. I don't really feel like it's worth it to keep a companion anymore. That or managing food is now a top priority that I don't understand right now. Nothing much is different besides that. NPCs still seem pretty stupid in my opinion, which is good for me because they tend to drop a lot of food items.