Shenandoah Standby Power (936) 284-4435
Shenandoah & The Woodlands

When the grid drops,
your house stays on.

Permanently installed standby generators — sized with a real load calculation, wired to an automatic transfer switch, fed by your gas line, permitted and inspected. No extension cords. No gas cans. No 3 a.m. trip to the garage in a hurricane.

We install and service Generac, Kohler, Cummins and Briggs & Stratton standby systems.

The first real decision

Standby vs. portable — honestly

A portable generator is not a bad thing to own. It's just a very different product from what most people picture when they say "I want a generator for the house."

Portable generator

Lower cost — higher effort, every single outage
  • Far cheaper up front, and you can take it camping or to a jobsite
  • You have to be home, awake, and willing to go outside in the storm
  • Runs on stored gasoline — and gas stations don't pump without power
  • Refueling every 6–10 hours, around the clock
  • Extension cords only — it won't run your AC, and it can't feed the panel safely without a transfer switch
  • Carbon monoxide risk. People die every hurricane season running these too close to the house

Whole-home standby

Higher up-front — then you stop thinking about it
  • Starts automatically within seconds — whether you're home or on vacation
  • Runs on your natural gas or propane line — no refueling, no storage
  • Powers the house through the panel — AC, fridge, well pump, internet
  • Sits outside on a pad, permanently — CO risk engineered out
  • Self-tests weekly and alerts you if something's wrong
  • Real resale value — it stays with the house
Our honest take: if you can only spend a little, buy a portable and a proper interlock kit — don't let anyone shame you out of it. But if you have medical equipment, small kids, a well pump, or you simply can't be home for every outage, standby is the product you actually want. We'll tell you which one your situation calls for before we quote anything.
Why here, why now

The grid in this part of Texas is not a hypothetical

Between Gulf hurricanes, derechos, ice storms and summer demand peaks, Montgomery County loses power in more than one season a year — and the outages that follow a major storm are measured in days, not hours.

Hurricane

Wind and water take the lines down

Even inland at Shenandoah, a landfalling storm strips transmission and distribution lines. Restoration is prioritized by customer count, and residential streets are near the end of that list.

Freeze

Ice storms and generation shortfalls

February 2021 was the reminder. When the grid is short on generation in a hard freeze, outages are long, and they arrive exactly when your house has no heat and your pipes are at risk.

Summer

Peak demand and equipment failure

August heat pushes the grid and local equipment to their limits. In a Texas summer, a house with no AC becomes genuinely dangerous for older adults and infants within hours.

What we do

Generator installation, start to finish

Sizing, gas, electrical, permitting, commissioning and service — one accountable crew instead of three subcontractors pointing at each other.

Load calculation & sizing

We measure what your house actually draws — AC compressors, well pump, range, pool equipment — instead of guessing from square footage and overselling you 4,000 watts you'll never use.

Standby generator installation

Pad set, unit placed to code clearances, and positioned so it doesn't roar under your bedroom window or violate your HOA's setback rules. Generac, Kohler, Cummins, Briggs & Stratton.

Automatic transfer switch

The piece that makes it automatic. Wired into your panel, it senses the outage, isolates from the utility (critical — backfeed kills linemen), and starts the generator in seconds.

Gas line & meter

Natural gas or propane, sized for the unit's demand. If your existing meter can't supply the flow, we coordinate the utility upsize — the step that quietly delays half the installs in this area.

Permits & inspection

Electrical permit, gas permit, city inspection, and HOA submittal where required. We pull them. You don't chase paperwork or discover an unpermitted install when you go to sell.

Maintenance & repair

Annual oil, filter, plugs and battery. The number one reason a standby generator fails mid-hurricane is a dead battery on a unit nobody has touched in three years. We service what we install — and what we didn't.

How the install actually goes

Permitted, inspected, and done right the first time

Shenandoah, Oak Ridge North and unincorporated Montgomery County each handle this a little differently. Here's the path.

01

Site assessment & load calculation

We walk the property, open the panel, look at the gas meter, measure distances, and check HOA and setback constraints. Then we tell you what size unit your house actually needs — and what it will cost, itemized.

02

Permits & HOA submittal

Electrical permit and gas permit pulled with the correct jurisdiction. If your neighborhood has an architectural committee, we prepare the placement and screening submittal. This is the step that most "cheap" installers skip — and it surfaces at closing when you sell.

03

Pad, unit & gas line

Composite or poured pad set to code clearance from windows, doors and the property line. Unit placed, gas line run and pressure tested by a licensed plumber, meter upsized with the utility if needed.

04

Transfer switch & panel work

Automatic transfer switch installed and wired by a licensed electrician, with utility isolation verified. Whole-home or managed-load configuration depending on the sizing we agreed on.

05

Inspection, commissioning & walkthrough

City inspection passed, unit commissioned and load-tested under a simulated outage, weekly self-test scheduled, Wi-Fi monitoring set up. Then we walk you through it until you actually understand your own generator.

Don't buy a generator during the storm.

Lead times and installer schedules blow out the second a hurricane enters the Gulf. The right time to do this is a boring Tuesday.

(936) 284-4435
Service area

Serving Shenandoah and Montgomery County

We're based in Shenandoah, right off I-45, and we install throughout the surrounding communities. Local means we know which jurisdiction you're in, which inspector you'll get, and how long the gas meter upsize actually takes here.

Shenandoah Oak Ridge North The Woodlands Conroe Spring Magnolia Imperial Oaks Grogan's Mill
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Questions

Standby generators, answered

What size generator do I need?
Depends what you want running. 10–14 kW covers essentials — fridge, some lighting circuits, internet, well pump, one AC. 22–26 kW runs most homes around here in full, including multiple AC units. Bigger than that is for large homes or heavy electric loads (pool, electric range). We do an actual load calculation, not a square-footage guess.
Standby or portable?
A portable is cheaper and it's better than nothing. But it needs you home, gasoline stored, cords run, and refueling every 6–10 hours — and it produces carbon monoxide that kills people every hurricane season. A standby sits on a pad, runs off your gas line, starts automatically in seconds whether you're home or not, and powers the house through the panel.
Do I need a permit in Shenandoah?
Yes. A permanently installed standby generator needs an electrical permit, the fuel line typically needs a gas/plumbing permit, and there's an inspection at completion. Requirements differ between the City of Shenandoah, Oak Ridge North and unincorporated Montgomery County, and many neighborhoods add HOA approval for placement and screening. We pull the permits and handle the inspection.
How long does it take?
On-site work is usually one to three days. The longer part of the timeline is permitting, a gas meter upsize if your existing meter can't supply the flow, and manufacturer lead time on the unit itself. We give you a real schedule up front — and if a hurricane is in the Gulf, everyone's lead time gets worse.
What does it cost installed?
It depends on unit size, distance from panel and gas meter, whether the meter needs upsizing, and pad/permit requirements. The generator itself is often less than half the project. We give you an itemized written quote after a site visit — a phone quote for this work is a number designed to get us in the door, not an honest estimate.
Does it need maintenance?
Yes. Weekly self-test runs on its own, but it needs oil, filter, plugs and a battery check roughly annually. The number one cause of a standby generator failing during an outage is a dead starting battery on a unit nobody has serviced in three years. We offer maintenance plans, and if you're handy, you can do it yourself.
Get started

Free site assessment

We'll walk the property, run the load calculation, check your gas meter and panel, and give you an itemized quote — including the option of telling you a portable is all you actually need.

(936) 284-4435

No pressure. We'll tell you honestly what your house needs.

Thanks — we'll call you to schedule the site assessment.
Call for a free assessment