AUSTIN, Texas — Austinites are doing what they can to protect themselves this winter in the event of another freeze. According to a report from KVUE's media partners at the Austin American-Statesman, many residents have been looking to install whole-home generators in the months since the weeklong freeze in February.
The president of an Austin-based generator company, Capital Power Systems, told the Statesman that, previously, the company would install one generator a day. Now that number has increased to as many as five or six.
"We are backlogged 200 installations," Joe Rizzo told the Statesman. "And the factories have not been able to keep up with the increase in demand across Texas and in the U.S. There has been a shortage in materials and so everything has delays, and it has slowed production down."
According to the Statesman, Austin Energy has also received hundreds of requests for information or help installing whole-home generators since the February freeze. In a typical year, the Statesman reports that Austin Energy receives two to three requests about generators. This year, the utility has received more than 350.
Austin Energy's electric system field operations manager told the Statesman that the uptick started shortly after February's storm and has steadily built over the last few months.
Austin Energy doesn't provide generators but helps install them. The Statesman reports that homeowners typically use a contractor who helps them buy a generator before it goes through a permitting process with the City of Austin. Then Austin Energy's role is to schedule a power shutdown so an electrical contractor can install the generator without the electrical system that feeds the house being live.
Austin Energy told the Statesman that it has also received more requests for solar batteries this year than in the past five years combined.
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