Lake Region Electric Cooperative
After reading about the new standby generator program offered through the co-op, Lake Region Electric Cooperative member Jim Haider decided he wanted to learn more. Haider called the co-op and inquired about the possibility of purchasing a residential standby generator for the property he owns with his wife, Bonita.
“Phil Glawe from Lake Region came out to our place, talked to us about our options, and gave us a cost estimate,” Haider recalls. “It’s not a cheap investment, but we looked at the benefits of it and decided it was a good thing to do.”
Haider says he thinks about purchasing a generator as a similar concept to buying homeowners insurance. “You may not always use it, but it’s a good investment to make,” he says. Other factors influencing his decision were the warranty that comes with the generator and the convenience of having the unit installed by his local cooperative.
At the end of the summer this past year, the Haiders’ generator was installed at their home on Little McDonald Lake. The whole house unit provides power for everything other than what they have set on off-peak. Just a week or two after the unit was installed, the Haiders experienced a few short outages and were pleased to see their generator kicked in right away.
“We generally go to Florida in the winter for a month, so it’s nice to know that if there is a storm some time when we are gone, we won’t have to worry about heat in the house,” Haider says. “If you have a freezer full of meat or it’s 20 below outside, you’re going to be assured you’ll have power and things will operate just the same as normal. I guess the peace of mind our generator provides is really the biggest thing for us.”
