Generators are becoming an essential appliance
By Brian Bandell
South Florida Busines Florida
When hurricane Wilma hit South Florida on Oct.24, Eddie Perez was left scrambling for a way to continue production at his powerless Medley electrical components factory.
However, there is a big hole in the generator business. Generators to power multi-tenant units, especially high-rises, are very hard to come by. While most high-rises have back-up generators for hallway lights and elevators, the individual units run on separate meters and it’s difficult to power them individually, Frank said.
Picture Caption : Hiram J. Frank of Personalized Power Systems says most commercial generators are built to run for 24-hour emergencies.
His company broadband International manufactures and ships parts for the cable television industry nationally and throughout the Americas. He heard that power may not be restored for weeks and he couldn’t accept being idle for that long.
"If I’m not making something, I'm not making money," he said. "To be stuck without power and be dependant on FPL to produce income – that’s scary."
Perez reopened his factory two days after the storm, thanks to a generator from Americas Generators, which was shipped on a trailer to power nearly the entire 10,000-square-foot facility.
While the $25,000 purchase initially saved his company for two-and-a-half working days after the power eventually returned, Perez said it was worth the investment.
Many businesses In South Florida are developing a similar attitude, said Eric Johnson, VP and co-owner of Miami-based Americas Generators. His company has been busy supplying commercial and industrial generators to the Gulf Coast region and South Florida. It sold about 250 generators after Wilma, Johnson said.
A generator to run a mid-sized business can cost from $12,000 to $30,000, while a large facility that requires refrigeration or manufacturing can cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to power, he said.
Residential generators are also increasingly in demand, and not just the noisy gas-powered versions that power home appliances. Boca Raton-based Personalized Power Systems sells propane- and natural gas-powered generators that energize entire homes, including the air-conditioner, water heater and pool.
“The dirty little secret about most commercial generators is they’re built to run for 24-hour emergencies,” Personalized Power Systems co-owner Hiram J. Frank said. “They’re not built to run through Wilma.”
The company made dozens of sales after Wilma, Frank said. Ninety percent of his business is residential. Because of order backlogs and the permitting required to bury fuel tanks, orders generally take four to five months to fill.
With a cost of $25,000 to $30,000 per unit, Frank sees luxury homes and new construction as the best markets, especially since the upfront cost of a generator can be mitigated by being folded into a 30-year-mortgage.
“If you’re buying a home worth more than $400,000, there’s no reason not to put a stand-alone generator on it,” he said.