Preparing For a Rolling Power Outage
No one looks forward to a power outage. It can result from extreme weather, wildfires, equipment failure, or an intentional response to excessive power demand.
It always disrupts your daily routine and can damage your physical and financial health.
You have no control over the frequency and circumstances surrounding electrical power outages in New York. However, you can prevent related damage to your Smithtown home and health with a standby generator.
At HomeOps, we maintain, repair, and install generators that automatically switch your home’s electrical panel from utility company-supplied power to generator power when an outage occurs. It automatically switches back when power returns.
A standby generator can provide backup power to your entire house or select circuits, depending on the generator size. Propane or natural gas power these units.
Safeguard Your Health, Home
Standby generators are lifesavers for people who use medical equipment powered by rechargeable batteries or electricity. Generators give them peace of mind, and they can remain at home, knowing an outage will not jeopardize their medical needs.
A standby generator also avoids the inconvenience of electricity loss. Without a generator, a prolonged outage typically means you will need plenty of batteries to run lanterns and other devices and ice to keep food from spoiling.
You risk damage from a power surge unless you unplug major appliances and turn off your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system.
If you do not own a generator, you can prepare for an outage that may be part of a weather event or wildfire. However, you probably will not get advance notice of equipment failure, power grid vandalism, and sometimes even rolling outages.
Reasons for Rolling Outages
A rolling outage happens when the demand for electricity outpaces the supply. Utility companies implement rolling outages to avoid a total blackout.
They create an outage in one area of the power grid and then move on to another portion of the grid. The idea is to alleviate the load on the grid without forcing the outage on one area for an extended time.
Why would demand exceed supply?
During record-breaking high heat, like the Southwest experienced over the summer, home cooling systems tend to work almost non-stop and can strain the power grid.
Failing transformers or power lines can cause a rolling blackout. Insufficient fuel to generate enough electricity to meet demand also can trigger an outage.
Some New York utility companies implement rolling power outages during windy weather when downed live wires can set dry landscapes ablaze.
Time Spent in Outages
According to PowerOutage.us, a project that tracks, records, and aggregates power outages, California had the second largest number of power interruptions from 2000 to 2020, followed by Michigan. Texas had the most.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) says U.S. electricity customers experienced just over seven hours of power interruptions in 2021. That is almost an hour less than the previous year.
The agency also calculated the number of outages annually from 2013-2021, excluding wildfires and weather events, and found that customers experienced an average of two hours of electrical interruptions annually.
Two to seven hours annually may not seem like a long time to endure a loss of electricity until a rolling or extended outage hits your Smithtown home, bringing inconvenience and threatening your health, food loss, and work time in your at-home office.
Prepare for Outages Now
Rolling outages and extended blackouts will not alter your daily routine when you install a standby generator in your Smithtown, NY, home. One of our qualified team members at HomeOps can recommend the best equipment for your goals and budget. Call us at 631.509.2000 or request service online.