Nobody wants to be left without power to their home or business at a critical moment — or any moment at all. Despite having one of the most reliable power grids in the world in the U.S., people still face power outages daily across the country, and some of them are quite large. For example, in the first six months of 2014, there were 130 reported grid outages in the U.S., which is an average of five a week. Power outages often are weather-related, but they also can be caused by an animal, by a breakdown due to old equipment or neglected maintenance or because of a number of other causes. To ensure a power outage doesn’t leave you in a lurch, it’s a good idea to have an emergency generator.

Having a generator can ensure you have power when you need it. Among the scenarios in which you might need whole house generators for your home are if you have a person in the home who uses life-saving equipment — for example, a quadriplegic who needs a respirator. Generators for businesses can come in handy in a number of situations that might include keeping refrigeration going so that product doesn’t expire or keeping a critical computer system running. According to the Department of Energy, power outages cost business owners $150 billion a year, so having a generator is definitely a good investment.

If you are going to have a generator as a backup power source, then you need to follow emergency generator installation requirements. Most generators run on diesel fuel, so you will need to have adequate venting if the generator is in an indoor area. You also want to be sure you follow all instructions and regulations when hooking up your generator to your power source. If you aren’t sure of what you are doing, it’s a good idea to have an electrician do the installation for you or use professional generator installers.

In addition to emergency generator installation requirements, there also are some other things to consider. For example, if you don’t use the generator often, it’s a good idea to use a fuel stabilizer additive to keep your fuel in good shape. You also want to determine what size of emergency generator is appropriate for your needs. You can do this by adding up the watts of appliances and other devices you expect to use during an outage.