Is a standby generator worth it in Texas?

Start with the real number

Our estimate for a complete, permitted, whole-house 20kW installation in Dallas–Fort Worth is $13,500 to $17,000. Smaller homes on a single air conditioning system come in lower. Estimate only. Every installation is different; a site visit is required to determine whether your installation will cost less or more than this estimate. The line-by-line breakdown is here.

What Texas has actually done

In February 2021 (Winter Storm Uri) more than 4.5 million people in Texas lost power, and at the worst point ERCOT ordered 20,000 MW of firm load shed, over three consecutive days of rotating outages. Those outages were ordered because generating units failed in the cold, not because ice brought lines down. The source is the November 2021 FERC-NERC staff report on the event.

Most other outages are local: thunderstorms, high wind and ice bring down distribution lines on particular streets. ERCOT has also issued conservation appeals during summer peak demand.

Outages here are not constant, but the long ones have tended to come in extreme heat or cold, when a house without power becomes hard to live in.

When it is worth it

Someone in the house is medically dependent on power. Oxygen concentrators, home dialysis, refrigerated medication.

You work from home. A few lost days a year against a fixed one-off cost is straightforward arithmetic for most people who bill by the day.

You have a well or a septic lift pump. No power means no water and no drainage.

You cannot easily leave. Young children, elderly parents, animals, mobility limits.

The house cannot be left unheated or uncooled. Pipes freeze. Anything with a temperature-sensitive inventory — a home lab, a wine cellar, a workshop — has a real loss number attached.

When it is not

Your outages are short and rare. If the power goes out twice a year for an hour, a generator is an expensive solution. A few battery lanterns and a plan will serve you better.

You can leave easily. If staying with family or in a hotel is no hardship, staying put is worth less than the system costs.

You are moving soon. A generator is generally viewed as a desirable feature here, but you will not recover the installed cost at sale. Buy it to use, not as an investment.

The budget would be better spent elsewhere. If the roof is failing or the panel is unsafe, fix that first. We will tell you so.

The middle options

A Cummins portable generator covers refrigeration, lights, pumps and electronics through a short outage, for well under the cost of a standby system. It will not run central air conditioning, and someone has to be home to start and connect it.

A partial-house standby system is the other middle option: a smaller unit covering essential circuits and one air conditioning zone rather than the whole property, for less than a whole-house system.

What tips it either way

Ask what would happen in this house during a four-day outage in February or a three-day outage in August. If the answer is that it would be unpleasant, a portable or a partial system may be enough. If someone would be in danger, or the house would be damaged, that is the case for a standby system.