I lost electricity again.  It was a beautiful partly sunny unusually warm day for early winter and we lost power.  There are many reasons for power outages and this one was a “transformer fire” somewhere far away but on our line.  Thankfully, it lasted for only a couple of hours but it was inconvenient and a reminder of the more damaging and costly blackouts of the previous few months.  We lost power for 6 days during Hurricane Irene with its high winds and flooding rains and then, soon after, nearly 75% of our town lost power for days during the recent freak late October snowstorm.  This blackout was a reminder to buy a generator that can supply emergency power to our house sparing us the loss of lights, water for toilets and showers, and heat and importantly help us avoid the cost of replacing spoiled food and drink that needs to be thrown away if not refrigerated.

Need a generator?  Good luck!  You are not alone and you should expect to find long waits for out of stock portable generator inventory to be replenished and completely booked up contractors who can do the professional installations necessary to outfit your house and enable the emergency power supply to find your lights and appliances etc.   Find someone now and get on their list immediately for installation in a month or so and maybe you will have a generator in place before the next big power outage.

During the snowstorm, we miraculously did not lose power. Families escaped to relatives or friends’ homes if they could.  Two of my daughter’s friends stayed with us for the week that school was out.  It was a fun adventure for the girls and ok with us blessed with uninterrupted electricity but it was no fun at all for those without power.  Those with generators were generous and gracious hosts and those without generators swore they would finally buy an emergency power supply so they wouldn’t have to face power outages without an alternative. 

Whether your neighbors decide to buy a (relatively) simple generator that they could run extension cords to or a bigger portable unit that plugs into a separate fuse box to sends electricity to only the most critical areas in the house like the refrigerator to keep perishables fresh, well pump to keep the water flowing and sump pump to keep the basement dry, they will be better prepared for the next blackout event.  If they can afford to, they should even consider purchasing a big whole-house unit that starts up automatically and powers the entire house and, somehow, is barely audible above the hum it emits.  In certain areas of the country, generators are just not a luxury but an insurance policy against perishable products.  And with more and more people working from home, a loss of electricity can be more than a minor inconvenience.  You can only be so productive while sitting and working in the local coffee shop or library.

So what kind of generator should you purchase?

After you determine how much of the house you need or want to power and how much you can afford to invest to do so, you can begin looking at the many shapes, sizes and types of generators.  Be sure to ask

Over one third of the United States has active deregulated energy markets. Consumers in eligible states are able to select a competing supplier and can expect a lower rate on their existing electricity and/ or natural gas bill.
To penetrate the market as quickly as possible some suppliers and brokers are using network marketing to acquire as many customers as possible and are compensating independent representatives for their respective production.

Presently the states active for deregulation and have companies offering business opportunities include Connecticut, California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and is ever expanding.
Deregulation in energy is still in it's infancy stages, but it will be interesting to see which companies stand the test of time and will be able to retain the largest number of customers in this highly regulated and competitive marketplace.