How to Know If You Need a Backup Generator for Your Home

A homeowner's guide from Bix Electrical — serving Chesapeake, VA and Hampton Roads

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Every hurricane season, the same thing happens across Chesapeake and Hampton Roads: a storm rolls through, the power goes out, and homeowners find themselves wondering if this is finally the year they should have gotten a generator. If you're asking that question right now, here's how to actually answer it.

What's the difference between a standby and portable generator?

A standby generator is permanently installed outside your home, runs on natural gas or propane, and switches on automatically within seconds of losing power — no extension cords, no manually starting anything. A portable generator is smaller, needs to be set up and fueled manually during an outage, and typically powers a few key items rather than your whole home. Both have a place; which one makes sense depends on how much reliability you actually need.

Signs it's time to consider a generator

1. You lose power more than once or twice a year

If outages are a rare inconvenience, you may be fine without one. If your neighborhood loses power every time there's a real storm — or even just strong wind — that's a pattern, not bad luck.

2. You have medical equipment, a home office, or refrigerated medication

For some households, losing power isn't just inconvenient — it's genuinely risky or costly. Medical devices, work-from-home setups, and refrigerated medications all raise the stakes of an outage.

3. You've had a close call with food loss or frozen pipes

A multi-day outage can mean a fridge and freezer full of spoiled food, or in winter, frozen and burst pipes if your heat goes out. If you've already been through this once, you know it's not a risk worth repeating.

4. You want whole-home coverage, not just a few outlets

Portable generators can keep a fridge and a few lights running. If you want your whole home — HVAC included — to keep functioning normally during an outage, that points toward a standby system sized for your full electrical load.

5. You're already planning other electrical work

If you're having your panel upgraded or doing other electrical work, it's a good time to price out a generator too, since some of the planning overlaps.

What happens during a generator installation?

For a standby system, an electrician assesses your home's electrical load, recommends the right generator size, and installs a transfer switch that automatically shifts your home from utility power to generator power when an outage hits. The generator itself is installed outside on a pad, connected to your gas or propane line, and wired in — all handled with the proper permits and inspections. For a portable setup, we install an interlock kit or transfer switch that lets you safely plug in a portable unit without back feeding power into the grid (which is both dangerous and illegal to do without one).

Most standby installs take one to two days depending on the system and any gas line work needed.

When in doubt, get an honest assessment

You don't need to have decided between standby and portable before calling — that's exactly the kind of question worth asking during a free estimate. At Bix Electrical, we'll look at your home, talk through what actually makes sense for your situation and budget, and won't push you toward the biggest system if you don't need it.

Call or text us at 757-296-2142 or fill out our contact form to request a free estimate.

Bix Electrical is a Class A licensed electrical contractor serving Chesapeake, VA and the greater Hampton Roads area

A Generac generator and disconnect panel have been installed in Chesapeake, VA, offering dependable backup power solutions.