Your Power Stays On When
the Grid Goes Down

A standby generator is a permanently installed, fuel-powered unit (natural gas or propane) that sits outside your home and connects directly to your electrical panel through an automatic transfer switch (ATS). When utility power drops, the ATS detects the outage, signals the generator to start, and transfers your home's electrical load to generator power — typically within 10–30 seconds. When utility power returns, the process reverses automatically.

Generators are sized by kilowatts (kW). A 7–10 kW unit covers essential circuits: refrigerator, sump pump, some lights, and a few outlets. A 14–20 kW unit powers most of your home, including central AC. A 22–26 kW+ unit handles the entire home, including electric range and multiple HVAC zones. We perform a full load calculation to recommend the right size — oversizing wastes fuel and money, undersizing leaves you exposed.

The generator is only part of the job. Sizing sets the floor, and the load calculation picks the size — a unit that carries essential circuits is a different machine than one that carries the whole house with central AC running. After that it is site work and fuel: how far the pad sits from your gas meter or propane tank, whether the gas line has to be upsized to feed the unit at full load (undersized pipe is the single most common reason a generator starts and then stumbles), how far the transfer switch has to run back to your panel, and whether that switch is a whole-home ATS or a smaller essential-circuits switch. Premium brands ask more for quieter enclosures and heavier build — that is a real difference when the pad has to sit near a bedroom window. Schedule: 1–2 days for the set and electrical hookup once the pad has cured, plus a day if gas line work is needed, plus lead time up front for the pad pour, the permits, and the gas inspection. Permit and gas-inspection requirements are not the same in every jurisdiction — we're licensed in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia and handle whichever set applies at your address, but a county that inspects gas and electrical separately adds a visit to the calendar. Propane setups add tank placement and the first fill.

This region takes severe thunderstorms all summer, ice storms coming down off the Blue Ridge in winter, and hurricane remnants tracking inland in the fall — all of which cause multi-day outages. The farther you are down a rural co-op line, whether that's out past Pickens, up in the North Carolina mountain counties, or across into northeast Georgia, the further down the restoration list you sit. A standby generator isn't a luxury — it protects your sump pump from flooding, keeps your fridge and freezer running, maintains HVAC for vulnerable family members, and lets you work from home when the grid is down. For homes with medical equipment, it's essential.