Quick Summary
Big Easy Electricians installs and connects standby and portable generators across New Orleans, Jefferson Parish, St. Tammany Parish, Tangipahoa Parish, and St. John the Baptist Parish. Every generator connected to a building’s wiring, permanent or portable, requires transfer equipment that makes it impossible for the generator and the utility to feed the house at the same time. That is a National Electrical Code requirement under Article 702, not an optional upgrade, and it exists to stop generator power backfeeding onto utility lines where crews are working. The City of New Orleans requires an electrical permit for generator work. Call 504-226-7555 before hurricane season rather than during it.
Last Updated: August 2026
Big Easy Electricians wires generator connections throughout New Orleans and five surrounding parishes, where the question is rarely whether the power will go out but how long it stays out and what the house does in the meantime. The work is governed by Article 702 of the 2020 National Electrical Code, the edition Louisiana enforces, and the part that matters most is the transfer equipment rather than the generator itself.
Transfer Equipment Is the Requirement, Not an Upgrade
Section 702.5 of the National Electrical Code requires transfer equipment on every optional standby system, whether the generator is permanent or portable, wherever it connects to the building wiring. Its job is to keep the generator and utility supplies mutually exclusive. Manual equipment is permitted and must include an interlock.
That last point defines the scope. A portable generator running an appliance directly on its own extension cord is not connected to the premises wiring and is not an optional standby system. The moment a generator feeds the building through an inlet, a panel, or any permanent connection, transfer equipment applies.
The reason this is a hard rule rather than a recommendation is what happens without it. Generator power fed backwards through a service panel travels back through the utility transformer, which steps it up from household voltage to distribution voltage on the lines outside. Line crews restoring power after a storm work on the reasonable expectation that a de-energised line is de-energised. Backfeed from a single house is enough to kill one of them.
This is the specific reason the improvised connection people describe as a suicide cord, a length of cable with male plugs on both ends run from a generator to a dryer outlet, is not a shortcut with a scary name. It energises every exposed pin at one end, defeats the panel overcurrent protection, and puts the neighbourhood distribution circuit at risk. There is no version of it that is acceptable.
Portable and Standby Serve Different Problems
The right generator depends less on the size of the house than on what the household needs to keep running and for how long. A portable unit covers selected circuits and needs a person to start and refuel it. A permanent standby unit starts itself and runs on a fixed fuel supply.
| Portable with inlet and interlock | Permanent standby | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts | Manually, after the outage | Automatically, usually within seconds |
| Fuel | Gasoline or propane, refilled by hand | Natural gas or a fixed propane supply |
| Coverage | Selected circuits through a transfer panel | Selected circuits or the whole service |
| Requires someone present | Yes, to start and refuel | No |
| Electrical work involved | Inlet, transfer equipment, interlock | Pad, disconnect, transfer switch, fuel and utility coordination |
The portable route is far cheaper and, wired properly, is entirely legitimate. Its weakness is that it needs a person. A portable generator protects a household that has someone at home to start it and refuel it every few hours. It does nothing for a house whose occupants evacuated, which is the exact scenario in which a freezer full of food, a sump, or a medical device matters most.
Permanent standby removes that dependency and adds a fuel supply that does not need carrying. It costs considerably more, requires a fuel connection and a pad, and needs periodic exercise and service to be trusted when it is finally called on.
Placement Decisions Specific to This Region
Where a generator sits is a bigger question here than in most of the country, and it is worth settling before equipment is ordered. Flood elevation, exhaust clearance beneath raised houses, manufacturer clearances, noise on a narrow lot, and wind anchoring all constrain the position, and several of them pull in opposite directions.
- Elevation. Much of the local housing stock is raised for good reason. A generator set at natural grade in a flood-prone area is protecting the house from the outage while remaining exposed to the flood, so pad height should be considered against the property flood elevation rather than against convenience.
- Exhaust and carbon monoxide. Portable generators are the greater hazard here, because they are moved and are frequently run too close to the building or under a raised house. Exhaust must discharge well away from windows, doors, vents, and any space beneath an elevated home, and never inside a garage or under a carport attached to the house.
- Clearances. Permanent units carry manufacturer clearance requirements from walls, openings, and combustible material that have to be respected for the listing to hold.
- Noise and neighbours. On a shotgun double with a few feet between buildings, a generator running for three days is a real consideration, and the sensible position is often not the closest one to the panel.
- Wind. Anchoring a permanent unit to its pad is not optional in a coastal wind zone.
How the Installation Is Sequenced
A generator installation is mostly scheduling. The electrical work is predictable, while equipment lead time, the fuel connection, the permit, and the inspection are what set the calendar. Running the steps in the right order is what keeps a standby project from stalling halfway through.
- Decide what has to stay on. Refrigeration, a sump or pump, window or mini-split cooling, medical equipment, internet, and lighting. This list, not the square footage, sizes the generator.
- Check the existing service. The panel has to be able to accept the transfer arrangement, and services already at capacity may need attention first, which is why a generator plan and a wider electrical plan are usually settled together.
- Select transfer equipment. An automatic transfer switch for a permanent unit, or an inlet with a manual transfer panel or a listed breaker interlock kit for a portable one.
- Pull the permit. Generator work requires an electrical permit in Orleans Parish and is filed with whichever authority covers the address.
- Install. Pad or inlet, disconnect, transfer equipment, conductors, grounding and bonding to Article 250.
- Coordinate fuel and utility. Natural gas or propane connection by the appropriate trade, and any utility coordination the service work requires.
- Test under load and inspect. Confirm the transfer operates in both directions under real load, then close out the inspection.
The load test is the step most worth insisting on. A generator that starts is not the same as a generator that carries the house, and the difference tends to be discovered at the worst possible moment.
Permits for Generator Work
The City of New Orleans requires an electrical permit to install, repair, replace, or alter any electrical apparatus or equipment, with replacement of light bulbs and fuses the only published exception. A generator connection is inside that rule, and so is the transfer equipment.
Orleans Parish charges a $40 application fee plus $3 for each new circuit plus $0.30 per amp of service. Only a contractor holding a City of New Orleans Class A Electrical License may apply, permits go through the city One Stop App, and they lapse after six months of inactivity. The Electrical Inspections Division answers code questions on (504) 658-7145. The City sets these fees and they cover the permit only. A fuel connection and any utility coordination are separate, and the permit does not stand in place of the inspection that follows it.
Jefferson Parish handles Metairie, Kenner, Harahan, River Ridge, and Gretna. St. Tammany Parish handles Covington, Mandeville, and Slidell. Hammond is in Tangipahoa Parish and LaPlace in St. John the Baptist Parish. A fuel connection may bring a mechanical or gas permit alongside the electrical one, which is a common cause of delay when the trades are booked separately and nobody owns the sequence.
Buy the Season Before You Need It
Generator work has a supply problem that is entirely predictable and still catches most people. Demand for equipment, electricians, and gas fitters spikes at the first named storm in the Gulf, and permit and inspection queues lengthen at the same moment. None of that compresses usefully under pressure.
A house that wants standby power for hurricane season should be starting the conversation in late winter or early spring. A household that decides a portable unit is enough still needs the inlet and interlock installed and inspected, which is a much smaller job but not one that can be done the afternoon a storm enters the Gulf. Where a previous storm has already caused damage, that is a separate matter and belongs with assessing what the surge or strike actually harmed before new equipment is connected to it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a transfer switch for a portable generator?
Yes, wherever the generator feeds the building wiring. Section 702.5 requires transfer equipment on optional standby systems including portable ones, and a manual arrangement must carry an interlock preventing the generator and the utility being connected at once. A portable unit running an appliance directly on its own cord is a different case and is not connected to premises wiring.
Can I plug a generator into a dryer outlet?
No. That arrangement energises exposed plug pins, bypasses the panel overcurrent protection, and can backfeed the utility line and injure or kill a line worker restoring power. It is unsafe in every configuration and cannot be made compliant.
What size generator does a house need?
Sizing comes from the loads that have to keep running rather than from the floor area. A list covering refrigeration, pumps, cooling, medical equipment, and lighting produces a realistic number, and starting current for motor loads such as a compressor has to be allowed for on top of running load.
Will a standby generator run my air conditioning?
It can, if it is sized for the compressor starting load and the transfer arrangement includes that circuit. Air conditioning is usually the single largest load in a Louisiana house and is the main reason a generator chosen on running watts alone turns out to be too small.
Do I need a permit to install a generator in New Orleans?
Yes. Generator connections require an electrical permit from the City of New Orleans, which can only be pulled by a Class A licensed electrical contractor, and a fuel connection may require its own permit alongside it.
How often should a standby generator be run?
Permanent units are designed to exercise themselves on a schedule and still need periodic service. A generator that has sat untested for a year is an assumption rather than a backup, which is why the commissioning load test and a maintenance routine matter as much as the installation.
Can a generator be installed under a raised house?
Not where exhaust can collect in an occupied or enclosed space. Carbon monoxide from generator exhaust accumulates in confined areas beneath elevated homes, and Big Easy Electricians places units clear of that space and away from windows, doors, and vents serving New Orleans and surrounding parish properties.
Get the Connection Right Before the Season
The generator is the easy part. The transfer equipment, the placement, and the permit are what make it safe and legal, and they are what take time. Call Big Easy Electricians at 504-226-7555 to plan a standby installation or to have a portable inlet and interlock fitted properly, or outline what the household needs to keep running and the team will size it from there. Anyone already relying on an improvised generator connection should treat replacing it as urgent, and the company will say so plainly rather than sell a larger job around it.