Some idiot in the legislature has decreed that people are not allowed to charge more during times of emergency. As a result, there is no profit motive to buy a generator, or drive to work when it's an ice storm. This is yet one more example of your government making your life miserable with regulations they declare are for "fairness". Now, somehow we have a President whose campaign was based on change, hope, and fairness. Please expect a LOT more outages, shortages, and unemployment and misery. Oh, and it will all be sold under "fairness".
The other effect is to reduce the freedoms of the American consumer. Suppose it's bitter cold, and you really want to gas up your generator. You go out to find a gas station. You'd be happy to pay five bucks a galon for gasoline, and you really appreciate the guys who are there at the gas station, in the cold and snow. A couple extra bucks isn't a bad thing. For all the work and hazzard they endure. But, they are legally not allowed to charge a market based price for gasoline. So what do they do? They close shop, and go home. Before the legislation, you didn't have to buy five dollar gasoline. Just don't buy it, if you don't want to. Now, you don't even have the choice to buy five dollar gasoline even if you want to. Land of the unfree, and the home of the whiners who demand governemnt "do something". Well government did, and now you don't like it. It's done now. You're out of choices.