Joseph Schwartz and his family see power outages all too frequently at their Upper Providence home and opted to buy a standby generator from All-Phase Electric Co., an Upper Darby dealer, writes Andrew Maykuth for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

An emphasis to stay or work from home, combined with more frequent power outages from severe weather has driven generator demand way up.

 “The convergence of the heightened power outage activity, broader electrification trends, and people spending more time at home has driven unprecedented demand for home standby generators,” said Aaron P. Jagdfeld, CEO of Generac Holdings Inc, which handles about 75% of U.S. standby home generator sales.

These days, orders for generators can now take several months.

John Phillips, a generator specialist for All Phase Electric, said replacement parts from manufacturers are hard to scrounge up.

He’s been waiting eight or nine months for one item, Phillips said. “So if it’s not a high-volume product, or they get some piece of that from some far-off land, there’s no telling how long it will take to deliver.”

A typical standby generator installation can cost $12,000 to $14,000 these days.

 Read more at The Philadelphia Inquirer about how work at home has increased the demand for standby generators.