Large Demand for Standby Generators in Tenafly & Near By Towns

Large Demand for Standby Generators in Tenafly

Only a few years ago, owning an emergency standby generator was unheard of or was thought of as highly ridiculous and excessive.

With the frequency of outages in Tenafly, Cresskill, Closter, Englewood and other Eastern Bergen County towns, during the last two years, many homeowners simply refuse to ride out another power outage.

The most recent storm last October and the one before that left many households in the region “powerless” for as long as a week.

Giving up on what many residents have come to expect as a service they pay for, many are installing home standby generators in record numbers to protect their families and investments.

Realtors in the area report a rise in buyer’s expectations to have a generator installed and for sellers to use the existence of one as an added value in the sale of their property.

While the installation of a stand by generator is an expensive proposition ranging from $8000 to as high as $12,000, homeowners in this well to do area have given up on the service providers and resort to self-reliance.

Tenafly processed over 150 applications for standby generators in 2011 a ten fold increase from 2010!

The installation of a stand by generator is more involved than a portable one.  It must be connected to a home’s gas line and electrical grid and it requires a permit.

While this winter has been rather mild so far, electrical contractors are experiencing a surge in the demand for standby generators. Some combination of building, plumbing, fire and electrical permits are usually required depending on the municipality. Zoning and construction code requirements must also be met. With the high demand and the permit requirements the whole process from planning to execution can take approximately 8-10 weeks.

As most manufacturers could not have anticipated the surge in demand,  lead time for delivery is now 4-6 weeks.