Backup Power

Standby Generators in Muskoka & Simcoe County

Quick Answer Standby generator installation and service across Muskoka District and Simcoe County, Ontario. Automatic backup within seconds of an outage. No-obligation quotes from one qualified local installer.

A battery carries the essentials for hours. A generator carries the house for days — and does not care how long the outage lasts or how little sun there has been.

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In March 2025 an ice storm took power from more than 350,000 Ontario customers, a great many of them in Muskoka and Simcoe County. Some waited days. On rural feeders with trees on both sides of the line, that is not an unusual year — it is the reason standby generators are common here and rare in the city.

The question is rarely whether you want backup. It is how long an outage you are buying for.

A standby unit sits outside on a pad, runs on propane or natural gas, and starts itself within seconds of the power failing. No extension cords, no fuel cans in the dark, nobody home required. For a seasonal property that last part is the whole argument: a cottage that heats itself through a January outage does not come back to burst pipes in April.

What the install involves

Sizing

The decision that matters. A unit covering the well pump, furnace and fridge is a different machine from one running a house on electric heat, and the gap between them is wide.

Transfer switch

What makes it automatic, and what keeps your power off the line while the utility is working on it. Not optional, and not a DIY item.

Fuel and siting

Propane tank or a gas line, clearances from windows and openings, and a pad that stays level. Placement is usually settled on site rather than on paper.

Panel capacity

Older services frequently need work before a generator can be tied in properly. Better found before the unit is ordered than after.

Portable generator? There is a cheaper answer

If you already own a portable unit, a generator link is a fraction of the cost of going standby. It is a proper transfer connection that lets you feed circuits from the portable safely — the furnace, the fridge, the well — rather than running cords through a window and leaving the rest of the house dark.

It also does the thing extension cords cannot: it keeps your generator's power off the utility line, which is what protects the crews working to get you back on.

You still have to start it and fuel it. But for a property that loses power twice a winter rather than twice a month, it is often the right amount of solution.

Generators and batteries are not either-or

Plenty of homes here run both, and they cover different problems. A battery handles the daily peak-shifting and the short outages silently, with no fuel and no maintenance. A generator handles the four-day one in February.

If you are weighing them against each other, it is worth asking about battery storage in the same conversation rather than deciding in isolation.

Common Questions

It depends on what you want running, not on the size of the house. A unit covering a well pump, furnace, fridge and some lighting is considerably smaller than one carrying a home on electric heat with a hot tub. An installer works it out from your actual panel and what is on it, which is the only way to get it right.
On natural gas, as long as the gas keeps flowing. On propane it comes down to tank size and load — a properly sized tank commonly carries several days of intermittent running. Units also exercise themselves weekly for a few minutes, which is how you find out about a problem before the outage rather than during it.
Substantially, if you already own a portable unit. You are paying for the transfer connection rather than the machine. The trade-off is that you start it and fuel it yourself, so it suits a property that loses power occasionally rather than constantly.
Electrical work needs to be done by a licensed electrical contractor and inspected, and gas or propane connections have their own requirements. Your installer handles the applications; the permits are issued in your name as the property owner.
No. We are an independent referral service operated by Ontario Lead Networks. We connect you with one independent local installer and step out of the way — you contract directly with them.

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Serving Bracebridge, Gravenhurst, Huntsville, Orillia, Barrie, Midland and the surrounding District of Muskoka and Simcoe County.