Homeowners could be waiting until next year to get generators installed
Posted Jun 6, 2022 11:13:00 AM.
Homeowners who are looking to get a generator installed in the case of another major weather event could wait longer than usual.
The major storm on the Victoria Day long weekend left thousands without power but also flooded the inbox of one local generator company.
Dean Howell, the president and owner of the company of D.R. Howell Electric Inc. told CityNews they have received roughly 1,500 calls for new generator installs over the last two weeks.
“We're asking people to reach back out to us in 2023, because we've reached our maximum of what we can handle for this year without ending up letting down any of our customers,” he said. “Anyone calling in now that needs a generator right now, that's just not a possibility at all.”
The company provides Generac generators and has responded to a variety of calls from new installation services to maintaining service on existing generators.
But most were for existing generator maintenance calls, especially since most typical standby generators were running beyond their typical runtime, which is up to roughly four days or approximately 100 hours. “So, once the generator runs for four consecutive days, it definitely would need an oil change.”
Howell noted that it's not unusual to see an increased number of calls right after a major weather event, but this was by far the largest response the company has ever had. He said most customers are determined to get a generator even if they have to wait to longer to get one installed.
The calls were coming from all across the city including the hardest-hit areas that were left without power for several days. “There were certain sections of Nepean, Manotick. We've gotten a lot of calls from Greely, Kanata, Stittsville—pretty-wide throughout the city,” he said.
But for those looking to get a generator installed by this year, Howell recommends calling around other contractors as soon as possible to see if there are availabilities for those services this year.