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Power Grids Iffy, Populous Areas Go for Generators
By KEN BELSON
Published: April 24, 2013
AFTER Tropical Storm Irene pummeled the Northeast in 2011, Keith
and Barbara Wolff realized it was time to act. Though they were
spared during Irene, several other storms had cut the power to their
home in Brookfield, Conn., forcing them to throw out food, wear
sweaters to keep warm and find coffee shops to recharge their
cellphones and laptops.
So the Wolffs did what many of their
neighbors had done: They bought a
portable, gasoline-powered generator
that produced enough electricity to
run many of their essential appliances,
including their refrigerator, water well, hot water tank, heater and
home offices.
Matt Roth for The New York Times
AGAINST ALL STORMS Charles LaDuca of Bethesda, Md., spent about $12,000 to buy and install a 14-kilowatt generator,
below.
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Page 1 of 5Generators Become Must-Have Appliances in Storm-Battered Areas - NYTimes.com
6/17/2013http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/business/energy-environment/generators-become-must-have-appliances...

2. The Wolffs paid about $1,000 for a 7,500-watt generator
made by Generac. A week after paying an electrician $900
to hook up the unit to their electrical system, they put their
new purchase to work when a snowstorm knocked out their
power for nine days.
“It was a pretty hefty investment, but it was well worth it
because when it’s cold out, you want to at least be able to
take a shower,” Mr. Wolff said. “There are two things you
can do: Be completely aggravated and non-functional or do
a workaround so your quality of life is better.”
Generators have been a backup for homeowners in rural
America and twister- and hurricane-prone corners of the
country for decades.
But in recent years, they have also become popular with families in metropolitan areas
across the northern half of the country that have been hard hit by recent so-called
superstorms.
With utility companies straining to keep up with the power failures after storms,
homeowners are increasingly taking matters into their own hands.
For as little as $150, consumers can buy a 1,000-watt gasoline-powered portable generator
at a big-box store like Home Depot that will keep a few home appliances running for
several hours.
Larger homes with more appliances require more powerful generators that can cost well
over $2,000 yet keep refrigerators, heaters, water pumps and other essential equipment
running. Hookups to a home’s electrical system are extra and can require a licensed
electrician.
Now those with portable generators are being outclassed by homeowners with more money
and larger homes springing for far more expensive standby units that can cost $10,000 or
more installed. Typically powered by natural gas or propane, they flick on automatically
and almost instantly in a shutdown.
“It’s not cheap, but people look at it as a home improvement product, particularly as they
age,” said Aaron Jagdfeld, the chief executive of Generac Power Systems, which recently
produced its one-millionth standby unit. “People are coming to the conclusion that power
outages are becoming more frequent.”
Generator makers do not release sales figures, but a report by the Consumer Product
Safety Commission in 2006 estimated that more than one million generators a year are
sold, with portable units making up roughly 90 percent of the sales.
Leading manufacturers like Generac and Honda, however, said sales had been unusually
strong in the last several years and that the percentage of standby units had risen steadily
as Tropical Storm Irene, Hurricane Sandy and other major storms had led to widespread
failures along the Eastern Seaboard.
“The market has certainly increased, not just because of Sandy, but a plethora of weather
events,” said Tom Pernice, marketing manager in the generator division at the American
Matt Roth for The New York Times
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Page 2 of 5Generators Become Must-Have Appliances in Storm-Battered Areas - NYTimes.com
6/17/2013http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/business/energy-environment/generators-become-must-have-appliances...

3. Honda Motor Company. “When you get a Sandy, a Rita, a Katrina, there are issues.”
One unintended consequence is the growing number of people — dozens a year — who die
from carbon monoxide poisoning because they ran their portable generators in enclosed
spaces without enough ventilation for the exhaust.
“For every dead person, there are 10 people who got sick from carbon monoxide and didn’t
realize it came from carbon monoxide,” said Albert Donnay, a toxicologist who has urged
generator manufacturers to include carbon monoxide sensors.
The generator boom raises even larger questions about the reliability of the nation’s
electrical grid and the ability of network operators to handle the more severe weather in an
age when families are living in larger homes filled with a greater array of electrical devices.
In their recent report card evaluating the country’s infrastructure, the American Society of
Civil Engineers gave the nation’s energy network a grade of D plus, which was unchanged
from the prior report in 2009.
“Investment in transmission has increased since 2005, but ongoing permitting issues,
weather events and limited maintenance have contributed to an increasing number of
failures and power interruptions,” the report said.
Demand for electricity has grown by 25 percent since 1990, and utilities may need to spend
as much as $1.5 trillion by 2030 to expand and update the nation’s electrical
infrastructure, according to the society.
“We have all the technology available to strengthen the grid, but whether it’s being done is
another question,” said Michael Stavy, an energy economist who specializes in climate
change mitigation. “Generators are a short-term solution for something that the consumer
is powerless to solve, so it’s rational to get one.”
In the days after Hurricane Sandy pummeled the Northeast, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of
New York said that more money was needed to shore up transmission and distribution
networks to prepare for extreme weather events, though he sidestepped the question of
what was causing them.
“I don’t call it ‘global warming’ because you trigger a whole political debate,” he said last
October. “But the frequency of extreme weather is going way up.”
The governor’s comment aside, it is unclear whether the storms that have hit the Northeast
recently are evidence of a growing pattern or a blip on the historical weather map.
“Obviously, there have been two significant events in the Northeast over the past two years
(Irene and Sandy) that some people might be reacting to,” James L. Franklin, a spokesman
for the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said in an e-mail. “Whether this is a statistical
anomaly or the beginning of a trend is unknown.”
He noted that the mid-1950s was a period of “a lot of tropical activity in the Northeast,” but
it ebbed.
Homeowners are not waiting for the debate to be settled because they have more pressing
concerns, like keeping their families warm (or cool) and healthy during emergencies, no
matter how frequently they occur.
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Page 3 of 5Generators Become Must-Have Appliances in Storm-Battered Areas - NYTimes.com
6/17/2013http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/business/energy-environment/generators-become-must-have-appliances...

4. That’s what prompted Charles LaDuca to buy a standby generator made by Generac that
runs on natural gas for his 6,400-square-foot home in Bethesda, Md.
After several storms and power failures forced Mr. LaDuca, his wife and two children to
abandon their home, he had the 14-kilowatt generator installed two years ago.
Mr. LaDuca spent about $12,000 on the generator and installation, which took about six
weeks. The generator arrived promptly, but natural gas pipes had to be routed around the
house and permits from the county were needed.
But the generator, which automatically turns on during a power failure, provides power to
about 80 percent of Mr. LaDuca’s home, including to the stove, heater, garage door, lights
and television.
Mr. LaDuca said he was the fourth of the 20 or so homeowners on his street to buy a
generator. “It’s sort of a luxury,” he said, “but we can run the house and keep the kids
occupied and keep our food from getting spoiled. It’s expensive but it’s worth it.”
Demand for generators has meant extra work for utilities like Con Edison, which has had a
50 percent jump since 2010 in the number of requests to inspect the natural gas lines that
are being connected to newly installed standby units.
Typically, licensed plumbers install any extensions to the natural gas pipes, and utilities
sign off on the connection of the generators to their gas lines, a service they provide at no
charge.
While such standby generators are more expensive than portable units, consumers are
learning that they are more reliable because natural gas or propane is rarely interrupted by
weather. By contrast, portable generators often require gasoline that may be harder to find
after storms as stations run short of fuel.
The number of requests to install standby units “will stay steady because of more acute
events and folks are being more self-sufficient,” said Robert Schimmenti, the vice president
for engineering and planning for electric operations at Con Edison.
“The fact that we’ve had a few of these storms recently makes it top of mind for folks,” said
Timothy Cawley, the senior vice president for central operations at Con Edison, which
plans to spend about $1 billion during the next four years fortifying its operations. “We
recognize it’s a hardship to go without electricity, but it’s the new reality.”
A version of this article appeared in print on April 25, 2013, on page F8 of the New York edition with the headline: Power
Grids Iffy, Populous Areas Go for Generators.
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Page 4 of 5Generators Become Must-Have Appliances in Storm-Battered Areas - NYTimes.com
6/17/2013http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/business/energy-environment/generators-become-must-have-appliances...

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Page 5 of 5Generators Become Must-Have Appliances in Storm-Battered Areas - NYTimes.com
6/17/2013http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/business/energy-environment/generators-become-must-have-appliances...