No this is not a test or a genuine occurrence. But it happens all too often.
I live in the back end of beyond in regard to power outages.
The other day just as I was starting to compose content on my machine ZZZZTT!.
Power outage!.
This has been a colder than normal season where I live.
Cold can cause many problems with machinery, electricity and electronics.
Circuitry can malfunction. Switches don't connect. Shorts occur ... the typical winter problem of a car skidding on a nearby icy road and taking out a telephone pole happened.
This resulted in a 4-hour outage before any effective response solved the problem.
I might call it random site support.
Let us all thank the powers that be that STEEMIT provides it in a regular fashion!