Bob and Ruth Palmer, owners of Wellington Electric, with some of their generator models.

Laura Ammerman 24.JUN.05

Last September, Wellington Electric owner Bob Palmer drove to North Carolina between hurricanes to get generators to sell to his desperate customers in Florida.

This year he’s prepared, with a stock of generators and a crew ready to install them. “After the hurricane took everyone by surprise in the area, the biggest thing right now is generators,” he said. “We sell two or three a week.”

Palmer and his wife Ruth, Wellington residents, established Wellington Electric in 1985. For years, the company focused mainly on new residential construction and renovation projects in Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Loxahatchee, The Acreage and the surround areas.

After last year’s hurricanes left thousands of Floridians in the dark, the company quickly adjusted to meet the new demand for generator sales and service.

The business still does construction and service work, but the Palmers and their employees are also striving to supply residents with the information and equipment they need to get through the next hurricane safely and with more than flashlights and battery-operated fans.

The store in Commerce Park offers a variety of generator packages, which include installation and setup. A generator package including a 5,500-watt generator, a 30-amp generator panel, cord and plug connections, start-up and test, and an empty five-gallon gas tank is on sale for $1,500 through the end of June.

“It’s a minimal hookup, just enough to get by,” said Bob, who has worked as an electrician since 1972 and earned his master’s license in 1986.

Customers can also buy packages with larger generators, and units that can power an entire house start at around $10,000. Wellington Electric technicians are currently installing a 100,000-watt generator at a large Wellington home. Bob said the purchase and installation of the generator, which is 12 feet long, six feet high and four feet wide, will cost about $50,000.

The company also provides hookup services for generators customers already own and information to people who have questions. The Palmers said many customers don’t know what kind of generator they need, or how it should be installed.

“What a few people have actually done is buy a small one thinking that they can power the whole house with it,” Ruth said. “They’re really kind of disappointed when we say you can run a couple lights, a fan and a refrigerator. So they’re very disillusioned; they don’t really know who to go out and talk to about what a generator can do for you.”

The Palmers spend much time educating people about generators. Bob Palmer sometimes spends an hour answering a customer’s questions over the phone and conducts site surveys at residences to help customers determine what brand or size generator to purchase.

Many customers, Ruth said, underestimate or are unaware of the dangers involved in using generators and try to save money by taking shortcuts in the connection process. Improper connections can injure or kill a person operating a generator, or even a utility worker servicing an outside power line. Last year, Florida Public Utilities put notices in newspapers to warn people about unsafe generator connections, she said.

“A lot of people are requesting to have cords that back feed through the dryer receptacles to operate their generators,” she explained. “That is what we’re trying to discourage people from doing because it’s not safe. During the last hurricane, a 15-year-old boy in Delray Beach was killed because he was messing with his generator.”

Ruth said Wellington Electric will only install generators the safe way, using an automatic transfer switch or a generator panel.

“There’s always going to be people who [say], ‘well, I’m a careful person and I know how to do it correctly,’” Ruth said. “Well fine, but for the next person who comes along, we’d rather do it the correct way.”

The company’s technicians have also spent much of the past year repairing electrical damage caused by the hurricanes, including work on barns, front doorways, patios and pool enclosures. They also install well pumps, landscape lighting and update fixtures in older homes.

Bob said he thinks household generators will continue to increase in popularity until they become a standard feature.

“It’s also an upgrade when they go to sell their home,” he said. “I see a time coming up when every new home that’s built will have a generator built into it.”

For the Palmers, the growing popularity of generators is just one of many changes they’ve seen since they opened as one of the first electrical contractors in Wellington.

“We’ve seen Wellington change over the years,” Ruth said. “It’s basically all built up now. The earlier homes are being remodeled, and the wiring is being upgraded, so they still keep us busy in the area. This is what we call home, and it’s where we’re going to be for a long time.”

Wellington Electric is located at 3103 Fortune Way, Suite 2, in the Commerce Park of Wellington and is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more information, call (561) 798-8811.