Standby Generator Installation in Croton-on-Hudson, NY

Croton-on-Hudson sits where the Croton River runs into the Hudson, and a lot of the village climbs steep, wooded streets above the water. Those trees are a big part of why people love living here. They are also what lands on the wires when a nor'easter or a summer squall rolls up the valley.

Outages in this part of Westchester are not rare events. In March 2018, two nor'easters arrived within a week of each other. Con Edison's CEO said the first one caused the fifth worst outage in the company's history, and days later more than 33,000 Con Edison customers and close to 15,000 NYSEG customers across the county were still waiting for power. Homes on dead-end hillside streets are often near the end of the repair list.

A standby generator is the long-term answer. It lives on a pad outside, burns natural gas or propane, and is wired to your panel through an automatic transfer switch. When the grid drops, it starts by itself. When the grid comes back, it hands the house back and shuts down, whether or not anyone is home.

When you are ready, the estimate form takes a couple of minutes. Tell us about your project and a local electrician or generator installer will reach out, come see the house and put a price in writing. Meanwhile, these pages cover sizing, fuel, transfer switches, panel work and typical costs, so you know the vocabulary before the first visit.

Why homeowners start here

• One short form. Describe the house once. Your request goes to a local installer who works on home generators, so you are not phoning around a list of names.
• Installers who know the area. Hillside lots, older village wiring and Cortlandt's mix of gas and propane homes all shape a generator job. A local installer has seen them before.
• Free to ask. Requesting an estimate costs nothing and commits you to nothing. You get a quote and decide on your own time.
• Numbers before the visit. The cost tables here come from published sources and are labeled as typical ranges, so the first quote is less of a surprise.
• Your call at every step. Ask for the installer's Westchester County license and proof of insurance, compare quotes, and only sign when it feels right.

Sizing a generator for an older Croton house

Generators are rated in kilowatts. A smaller unit can cover the furnace or boiler, a sump pump, the fridge, a few lights and outlets. A larger one can carry central air, an electric range and everything else. The right size comes from a load calculation, which is a list of what you want to run and how much power each item draws when it starts.

Many houses in the village were built before 1940, and some still have older or smaller electrical service. An installer will look at the panel during the site visit. Sometimes a panel or service upgrade makes sense at the same time as the generator, and it is easier to plan both together than to discover it halfway through.

Natural gas or propane

With a gas main on your street and a meter big enough to feed it, natural gas is the easy fuel, since nothing ever has to be delivered. A larger generator may need a bigger meter from the utility, so ask your installer to check. Farther from the village center, on wooded lots in Cortlandt Manor and the Yorktown hamlets, many homes have no gas main and rely on a propane tank. Read more in our whole-home generator guide.

Where the unit can sit on a sloped lot

Manufacturers set minimum distances between a generator and windows, doors, vents and other openings, because the engine makes exhaust. Villages and towns add their own setback and noise rules. On a steep lot, the flat spot that meets all of those rules may be small, and some sites need a built-up pad or a longer wire and gas run. That is one reason quotes vary so much from house to house. Your installer should check the local code and pull the permit.

Safety while you wait for a generator

Never run a portable generator inside the house, in a basement, or in an attached garage, even with the door open. Carbon monoxide builds up fast and has no smell. Do not plug a portable generator into a wall outlet or wire it into the panel without a transfer switch or interlock. That is called backfeeding, and it can send power back onto the lines where utility crews are working. Keep carbon monoxide alarms on every floor. If an alarm sounds or you smell gas, leave the house and call 911 or the utility.

Typical costs for generator and electrical work

These are published national ranges, not quotes. Westchester labor and permit costs often push real prices toward the upper end.

These are national averages from the sources listed, not quotes. What you pay depends on the generator's size and fuel, the distance from the unit to the panel and gas meter, any meter or panel upgrades, and permit fees.

Sources: HomeGuide, whole house generator cost; Angi, generator transfer switch cost; This Old House, electrical panel upgrade cost; Fixr, home EV charging station cost; Angi, generator repair cost

Questions homeowners ask