Demand electrifies generator sales
Clifton Park -- Manufacturers struggle to keep up with orders
prompted by fears of "bug''-related blackouts
ALAN WECHSLER
Staff writer
New York's power companies say they expect few, if any,
blackouts because of Y2K.
But many New Yorkers aren't buying it.
They are, however, buying generators to supply backup power in the
event things don't work as well as officials say.
Sales of power generators and other equipment New York state are
skyrocketing. Manufacturers are churning out popular models at
record rates, and customers are waiting up to six months for some
models.
"It just makes sense to be prepared,'' said David Triller of Clifton
Park, who recently bought one. "All I keep reading is nobody really
knows what's going to happen. That's kind of scary.''
Triller waited three months to get a 5,000-watt Honda for his house.
He also ordered two more -- one for a friend, and one for his store,
The Only Guitar Shop, to keep the fragile wooden instruments from
freezing on the day the power dies.
For many who worry about the Y2K "bug'' -- the inability of some
computers to comprehend the year 2000, causing programs to crash
or spew faulty information -- the biggest concern is that the electricity
will go out for a long time.
Power companies say they're well aware of the problem and expect
to be Y2K-compliant six months before the end of the year. Many
experts who have been following the Y2K problem say they expect,
at the worst, temporary outages in a few places that won't last more
than a couple of days.
Y2K isn't the only reason to buy a generator. Headlines about
natural disasters during the last two years -- hurricanes in the
southern United States and Central America to landslides in
California and floods in the Midwest -- get people worried.
Bad news like that means good business for people like Joe Farina,
manager of Albany Honda.
"There's been a tremendous increase,'' he said. "It's like buying fire
insurance on your house.''
Honda, one of the bigger generator sellers in this country, has
doubled its sales in the past year, according to a Jan. 1 letter sent out
to its dealers. The company has given up producing a wide selection,
concentrating instead on the more popular models in an effort to
produce more. And despite that, there's still a months-long waiting
list.
"Larger generators, they're almost impossible to come by,'' said Greg
Daly of True Value in Menands. "We can order them, but it's going
to take forever to get them in.''
Y2K has been an especially powerful sales incentive because unlike
most natural disasters, we know when this one is coming. If only
hurricanes and earthquakes could be scheduled so conveniently in
advance.
Wood-burning stoves are also popular for people getting ready for a
Y2K disaster. Nancy Koval of Woodburning Warehouse
Distributors in Watervliet estimated her sales increased at least 30
percent this year.
"I've got people who say we'll be without power for about two
months,'' she said.
"And most of the people,'' she added with a hush, "are in the
computer field.''
Other stores also are looking at Y2K. Price Chopper Supermarkets
has appointed its own Y2K expert to see if their markets should plan
to stock up on such staples as flour or diapers in the coming months.
Perhaps it will be all for naught. At a recent New York Assembly
committee hearing, officials from power companies around the state
testified their computers would be Y2K-compliant by the end of
June. Other power experts say they believe the worst problem that
will occur the first week of January is a few spotty outages that will
not take long to repair.
But others, noting how much of modern society comes to a stop
when the electricity goes off, say taking a few precautions hurts no
one. Even if Y2K turns out be nothing but hype, they say, there's
always nature's fury to contend with.
That was Jerry Miller's thought when he decided to spend $4,700 on
an 8.5-kilowatt Kohler generator for his Greene County house.
Miller runs the machine every couple of weeks just to keep it in
proper tune. And that has presented a different problem -- noise.
Generators can make leaf blowers sound soothing by comparison.
Now, Miller is looking for a muffler.
"It really annoys the neighbors,'' he said.
-- Gregory P. Nowell Associate Professor Department of Political Science, Milne 100 State University of New York 135 Western Ave. Albany, New York 12222
Fax 518-442-5298