Licensed Electricians in
Palm Bay, FL

Brevard County sits squarely in the path of Florida's Atlantic hurricane season. Matthew in 2016 tracked directly along the Space Coast, making the closest approach to a populated area of any Atlantic hurricane in years and causing widespread outages and structural damage from Titusville through Sebastian. Dorian in 2019 tracked close enough in 2019 to prompt mandatory evacuations for parts of the barrier islands, only to stall and churn offshore in a near-miss that still knocked out power for tens of thousands of customers. Ian in 2022 crossed the state and produced significant flooding and wind events in Brevard even after its initial landfall on the southwest coast. After each of these events, homeowners who had standby generators were back to normal within seconds of the outage. Those without them were waiting in line for gas for a portable unit or calling to get on an installation waiting list that stretched months out.

The permit process for generator installation in Brevard County runs through the Brevard County Building Department. The process is similar in structure to other Florida counties, we submit the application with a site plan and load calculations, the building department reviews and issues the permit, and we schedule the required inspections at the appropriate stages of the install. Brevard County permit approval typically runs one to two weeks from submission, similar to Palm Beach County. We handle all permit paperwork on your behalf and follow up directly with the building department if there are any questions during review.

Utility and fuel source considerations on the Space Coast differ meaningfully from South Florida. SECO Energy (Seminole Electric Cooperative) serves a substantial portion of Brevard County, including much of Palm Bay and rural areas west and south of Melbourne. SECO service areas generally lack the natural gas distribution infrastructure that FPL runs in its territory, which means LP propane tanks are the standard standby fuel for most generator installations in Palm Bay, Sebastian, and rural Brevard. Melbourne proper and parts of Cocoa near the FPL service territory may have natural gas available, and we verify fuel options for every address during the initial site visit before recommending equipment. Sizing the LP tank correctly for your generator and expected run time is something we calculate as part of the project scope.

After a major storm event, standby generators that ran continuously for two, three, or more days need a post-storm inspection and load test to verify they're still operating at full capacity. Extended run times under heavy load can accelerate oil consumption, stress transfer switch components, and surface issues that weren't apparent before the storm. We offer post-storm service calls that include a full load bank test, oil and filter inspection, transfer switch verification, and a written service report. If you had a generator run through a multi-day outage and haven't had it professionally inspected since, scheduling that check before the next storm season is the right call.