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Some 5500 Canadian dairy farms lost $7.8 millions of milk during the 1998 ice storm. COMPOWER was therefore developed to prepare for power outages exceeding a few hours. User friendly, COMPOWER is designed in steps to help list and size all electrical systems, without having to survey all items on the farm. The first screen asks for the selection of one or several operations (dairy, beef, swine, sheep/goat, poultry, cash cropping, fruit and vegetable and residential). The second screen minimizes entries by asking for operational classes (ex. natural or mechanical ventilation). The third screen helps to size appliances or motors, either by power usage or by an integrated function related to power (ex. floor area for lighting), and to set the daily usage period. The fourth screen is a graph of peak power demand over 24h where, for each peak period, a rescheduling of operations is questioned to minimize the size of the standby power unit. COMPOWER then sizes the electrical entrance, standby power unit and three day fuel tank. COMPOWER has a database compiled from information obtained from some 50 agro-food enterprises and 20 equipment dealers in Eastern Canada. Being built as in interface, this database can be updated regularly.