When is the Best Time to Purchase a Residential Gas-Powered Generator?

With Natural Gas Prices at Long-Term Lows, Is It A Good Time To Buy A Gas-Powered Generator?

If you utilize natural gas to heat your home, you’ve likely enjoyed the last few winters of low nationwide fuel prices, making it significantly cheaper to remain toasty all winter long. However, with summer (and its thunderstorms) around the corner, you may also be considering investing in a generator to help you power key appliances even when power lines are down. Should you take advantage of low gas prices to purchase a natural gas generator for your home? It may be time to learn more about the dip in gas prices and how you may be able to capitalize on this trend.

What factors are contributing to lower natural gas prices?

Although certain parts of the country have been hit hard by snowstorms over the last few years, other areas that are accustomed to heavy snowfall (like the northern Midwest) have had unusually mild winters, diminishing the demand for gas on a nationwide level.

The current political climate has also done its part to depress the cost of natural gas. Over the past few years as gas suppliers mined much more quickly than gas could be sold, much of it was routed to Mexico — and prices have struggled since President Trump has indicated his intent to repeal NAFTA and halt U.S. trade south of the Rio Grande. If this trade restriction goes through, it’s likely that U.S. natural gas suppliers will again find themselves dealing with an oversupply after years of lower-than-average prices, driving prices down even further.

Should you invest in a natural gas generator while prices are low?

Natural gas is a popular fuel for home generators because of its reliability and versatile storage requirements. Whole-house generators can be wired into an existing natural gas tank so that they’ll kick on as soon as a power outage is detected, ensuring you’ll never even notice when you’re dealing with an electrical interruption, while portable natural gas generators are versatile enough to power everything from a garage deep-freezer to a camper’s heating and air conditioning system.

Because natural gas can be stored indefinitely, it can often make sense to invest in a natural gas generator even when certain prices are going to rise. Storing 500 or 1,000 gallons (or more) of natural gas in an above-ground or underground holding tank can be a fairly inexpensive way to ensure you’re never without a source of emergency fuel.

Unlike gasoline or diesel fuel, which can begin degrading in quality within 90 days, long-term storage of natural gas won’t cause the molecular bonds that assist combustion to dissolve. By choosing an efficient generator and installing a large natural gas holding tank, you may be able to make a single tank fill last for years or even decades of intermittent generator use.  

If you’re thinking about taking advantage of these dropping natural gas prices and investing in a residential generator, contact the skilled technicians at A & A GenPro, Inc. for a free quote.