By Blair Anthony Robertson and April Dembosky, Sacramento Bee

You might think the forward-thinking Matt Ericson and family would be sitting pretty right now.

For the past three days in El Dorado County, thousands of homes all around him have been without power, thanks to unusual amounts of snow coupled with persistent cold weather.

Ericson has solar panels on his roof a mile outside Placerville and, despite the plummeting mercury, there’s still plenty of sunshine to generate electricity.

Not so fast. Ericson is powerless, too.

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