How this calculator works
The calculator multiplies hours by the hourly figure you type, then adds the two lumps:
total = (hours × $/hour) + food + work-from-home (or other lump)Twelve hours at $25/hour is $300 of time. Add $80 of food and $0 of other lump and the total is $380. Leave hours, food and the other lump at 0 and the engine asks you to enter hours or a loss line rather than filling a national average. There is no regional multiplier and no "typical American outage costs $X" sentence hiding in the code.
The generator conversation, if this number is large enough to care about, starts with running watts and a starting adder on the sizing tool. Transfer-switch dollars, if you get that far, are typed on the project cost tool from a bid. This page is only the household loss you are willing to name.
What each input means
| Input | What it is actually asking |
|---|---|
| Hours | Duration without power that you are actually pricing. A two-hour flicker and a two-day ice storm are different rows. Run the tool twice if you want both. |
| Rate $/hour | A dollar that means something to you for being without power for an hour. Lost paid work is the cleanest. $0 is valid when the loss is the lumps, not the clock. |
| Food | Replacement cost of food that would actually spoil in those hours. Short outages with the fridge door shut are often $0. Do not type a week of groceries for a four-hour blip. |
| Work-from-home / other | A lump that is not hourly and is not food: a lost shift, a hotel night, a cancelled appointment. Not the price of a generator. Not a basement-flood restoration estimate unless you really want that lump in this total, labelled honestly to yourself. |
Worked examples
Including one where the naive answer misleads, which is the example most calculators leave out.
A 12-hour outage with a real hourly figure
Hours 12, rate $25, food $80, other $0. Time line $300. Lumps $80. Total $380. That is a planning number for "does backup even belong on the list," not a bid. If the last three outages were 40 minutes, run it again at 0.7 hours and see whether the dollar still justifies a conversation.
A two-day outage, food is the line that moves
Hours 48, rate $0 (nobody is losing paid hours), food $220 of freezer contents, other $180 for a hotel night because the house went below 50°F. Total $400. The hourly box did nothing. The lumps did. Leaving food at $0 because "we always eat out anyway" is fine if that is true. Inventing $800 of steak because a viral post said so is not.
The one where this dollar misleads a generator purchase
Someone types 24 hours, $100/hour, $500 food, $1,000 "peace of mind," reads $3,900, and buys a 3,500 W portable set because the carton is "about four grand cheaper than the loss." Two problems. The $1,000 peace-of-mind lump was invented. And 3,500 W may not start the well pump or the furnace, which you only find on the sizing tool. The naive answer treats this dollar as a kilowatt class. It is not. Size watts first. Place the set outdoors, 20 feet from the house. Never in the garage. A transfer switch is licensed work. This page will not connect the set to the panel.
What changes the result
Hours and rate move the time line linearly. Doubling hours doubles that line and does not double food unless you say it does. Food is a lump, on purpose, because spoilage is not a smooth function of hours. Four hours is often $0. Thirty-six hours in summer often is not.
The other lump is the easy place to hide a generator price or a made-up "hassle" fee. If you put the carton in that box, the total becomes circular: the equipment "saves" a number that already includes the equipment. Keep equipment off this form.
Running the tool on the outage you actually get, not the worst outage in the decade in that county, is what keeps the dollar honest. A once-in-ten-years ice storm can still be worth planning for. It should not be the default row unless that is your grid.
Local considerations
Outage length and frequency are local, and we do not ship a SAIDI table by utility. Your last three outages, or your utility posted reliability numbers if they publish them, are the local data. A coastal county and a dense downtown feeder are not interchangeable, and a dropdown that pretended they were would be a fake localiser.
If the next step is a generator, carbon monoxide rules from CPSC and CDC apply everywhere in the United States: outdoors, more than 20 feet from openings, never in a garage even with the door up. Transfer equipment is still a local permit and a licensed job.
When not to use this
Do not use this as an insurance claim, a generator size, or a national statistic. It cannot see a sump-pump failure, a medical device, or a utility that is out for a week.
Do not use it to justify running a portable generator in a garage because the dollar is large and the rain is heavy. Carbon monoxide is the reason, not fussiness. Get to fresh air and call emergency services if anyone has headache, dizziness, nausea or confusion around a running set.
Do not put the generator purchase price in the lump box and call the total a savings. Watts first, bid second, this dollar third.
HyreElectrical does not sell generators and does not perform electrical work. Matching is still being built. The enquiry form is not a storm line.
Related on this site
- Backup power on the homepage Portable, inverter or standby, and why the transfer equipment is the safety-critical part.
- Frequent or long outages Which circuits must stay live is the question underneath the product.
- Warning signs A stop symptom is still a stop during an outage.
- Find electrical help An enquiry, not a dispatch, and not an emergency service.
Questions this calculator answers
- How much does a power outage cost a homeowner?
- Whatever you would actually lose in those hours: spoiled food, lost paid work, a hotel, a sump-pump failure, a medical device. We do not publish a national figure because those lines do not travel. A rural well and a city apartment are not the same outage. Type your lines. If you cannot name them, leave them at $0.
- What should I put as the hourly rate?
- A number that means something to you: lost billable work, the cost of sitting in a cafe, a hotel room divided by hours, or $0 if the hour itself is not the loss and the lumps are. Do not paste a GDP-per-hour statistic. This is not a regional economic model.
- How do I estimate food loss?
- From what is in the fridge and freezer that would actually spoil in the hours you typed, at replacement cost. A four-hour outage with the doors kept shut is often $0 of food. A 36-hour outage in July is not. We will not invent a USDA freezer-hour table on this page. Type what you would throw away.
- Does this include a sump pump or a well?
- Only if you put the consequence on a line. A flooded basement is not an hourly rate. It is a lump, and it belongs in food or, more honestly, in the work-from-home / other box with a note to yourself that it is water damage. This tool will not price a foundation.
- Can I use this number to pick a generator?
- No. A $2,000 outage does not size a 2,000 W generator, and a $15,000 outage does not size a 15 kW standby set. Watts of the loads that must stay up size the set. Dollars decide whether you want to have the conversation. Start with generator sizing.
- Is this an insurance claim worksheet?
- No. Policies, deductibles, and what counts as a covered loss are your policy. This is household arithmetic you typed. Do not file it.
- What about medical equipment?
- If someone in the house depends on powered equipment, this dollar is the wrong tool. That is a backup and emergency-plan conversation with a clinician and a licensed electrician, not a food-loss line. This page will not price a life-safety load.
- Should I include the generator purchase price here?
- No. This is the cost of being without power, on your figures. Equipment and transfer-switch dollars belong on the project cost tool, typed from a bid, and the watts belong on the sizing tool. Mixing the three is how a carton looks "justified" before anyone knows whether it can start the well pump.
- Why is the default $0?
- Because a made-up national outage cost would be the most tempting fake number on this site. Empty lines stay $0. Add hours or a lump and the total appears. That is the honest empty state.
- Should I price one long outage or several short ones?
- Both, separately, if you get both. A twice-a-year two-hour blip and a once-a-decade 48-hour ice storm are different rows, and they justify different backup (a UPS for the router versus a set that can start the well). Run this tool twice. Do not add them into one heroic week unless that is actually your grid. Frequency belongs in how often you would spend the dollar, not in inflating hours on a single run.
- Does HyreElectrical sell backup equipment?
- No. HyreElectrical does not sell generators, install transfer switches, or dispatch anyone in a storm. Matching is still being built. The enquiry form is not an emergency line.
Sources and methodology
Figures dated 26 August 2026. Last reviewed .
- Carbon monoxide information center (portable generators) (U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, retrieved 2026-08-26. Cited because the next step after "this dollar is large" is often a portable generator, and placement kills people. Never run one in a home or garage. Keep it at least 20 feet from the house.)
- Carbon monoxide poisoning basics (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, retrieved 2026-08-26. CO is colourless and odorless. CDC repeats the outdoor, more-than-20-feet rule. A dollar on this page is not permission to run a set indoors because of weather.)
- NFPA 70, National Electrical Code (National Fire Protection Association, retrieved 2026-08-26. Cited as the model code for transfer equipment if the next step is connecting a set to the house. This page does not size that connection.)
Related
- Generator sizing Watts of the loads that must stay up. This dollar is not that class.
- Electrical load calculator Whole-house demand, if the outage conversation is turning into a service conversation.
- Electrical project cost Transfer-switch and standby lines from a bid, once watts are known.
- Electrical safety check A burning smell or a breaker that will not hold is a stop, outage or not.
- Panel space checker An interlock or transfer switch still needs a panel that can take it.