If you are in the business of selling standby home generators, hurricanes, severe weather, and blackouts are good for business. And as the frequency of blackouts across the country increases, companies like Generac are making bank on the declining reliability of the US electric grid.
Generac is profiting from people like me. Back in 2021, during Winter Storm Uri, we lost power for two days. At that time, I thought the Texas grid would recover and all would return to normal. That hasn’t happened. Over the past 12 months, we have lost power at our house in central Austin three times, and in each instance, the outage lasted eight hours or more. Plus, ERCOT has repeatedly warned about looming power shortages.
Given all that, we are installing one of Generac’s whole-house standby generators. The cost: about $15,000 for a 22-kilowatt, gas-fired, air-cooled system that will automatically turn on when the lights go out. Our contractor is Current Power Technologies, a new company based in San Antonio. Grant Winston, the company’s founder and owner, told me business is “booming.” During a phone interview on Monday, he said, “I’m opening a division in Houston.” He’s also doing a lot of business in the custom home sector. As the number of blackouts in Texas has risen, standby generators are “becoming more of a standard appliance in new homes throughout the state.”
As the photo above shows, our generator has been delivered and the switches and wiring are installed. We are now waiting for a gas line connection from Texas Gas Service and we will be ready for the next blackout.
Our decision to buy a standby generator is part of a broader trend. Wisconsin-based Generac is the country’s biggest producer of home generator systems, and it sees a fertile market ahead. In its latest 10-K filing, Generac notes:
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation has labeled significant portions of the United States and Canada as being at high risk of resource adequacy shortfalls during normal seasonal peak conditions in the 2024-2028 period due in part to these supply/demand dynamics. We are seeing increasing evidence that warnings of potential resource inadequacies are driving incremental consumer awareness of the need for backup power solutions. We believe utility supply shortfalls and related warnings may continue in the future, further expanding awareness of deteriorating power quality in North America. Taken together, we expect these factors to continue driving increased awareness of the need for backup power and demand for Generac’s products within multiple categories. (Emphasis added.)
Read the rest of this piece at Robert Bryce Substack.
Robert Bryce is a Texas-based author, journalist, film producer, and podcaster. His articles have appeared in a myriad of publications including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Forbes, Time, Austin Chronicle, and Sydney Morning Herald.
Photo: Our new 22-kW standby generator, by author.
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