Charleston is a city built on the water — the peninsula sits with rivers on either side and
the harbor at its tip, much of it only a handful of feet above sea level. Power here is
supplied by Dominion Energy South Carolina,
the utility that absorbed the old SCE&G, and that same company pipes natural gas through much
of the metro — which makes a natural-gas standby generator unusually practical in the Holy
City.
But the Lowcountry’s relationship with water cuts both ways. The peninsula floods not only
during hurricanes but on clear-sky days, when a king
tide pushes salt water up through the storm drains. When the grid fails in that kind of
weather, sump pumps and home systems go quiet right when you need them most.
Hurricanes are the headline event, and Charleston has the scars to prove it. From Hugo’s
direct hit in 1989 to the surge and flooding of recent years, this stretch of coast loses
power often enough that backup isn’t a luxury here — it’s how a home rides out a storm
without spoiling a fridge full of food or baking in August heat.
A permanently installed standby generator takes the worry out of it. It senses the outage and
restores power on its own — usually within seconds — then runs for as long as the grid is
down.
See how installation works →