Whole house generator installers in Maryland
Power, cost, permits & sizing ↓Maryland
65 Maryland companies install and service home standby generators, including 18 generator specialists and factory-authorized dealers. Company and brand details come from each company's own website — for warranty work, confirm current dealer status with the manufacturer directly.
65 companies
Generator specialists (6)
Anytime Electric LLC Generator specialist
Bethesda Power Systems Generator specialist
Calvert Generator Generator specialist
Generator Supercenter of Annapolis Generator specialist
Generator Supercenter of Eastern Shore Maryland Generator specialist
Potomac Generator Service & Repair, Inc Generator specialist
Electrical contractors that install generators (29)
Absolute Electrical Contractors LLC (formerly JKJ Electric, Inc.) Electrical contractor
Barnes Electric Inc. Electrical contractor
Benfield Electric Electrical contractor
Braddock Electric LLC Electrical contractor
Buckler Electric Electrical contractor
Carrion Electric Electrical contractor
Castro Electrical Services Electrical contractor
Chesapeake Electric Electrical contractor
Circuit Doctors Electrical contractor
Coastal Electric Electrical contractor
Cook Electric, Inc. Electrical contractor
David Williams Electric Electrical contractor
Economy Electrical Services Electrical contractor
Electrical Connections LLC Electrical contractor
Integrity Electric Electrical contractor
John Goudie Electric Electrical contractor
K & M Electric Electrical contractor
K&H Electric LLC Electrical contractor
Kline Electrical Services Electrical contractor
KV Electric Electrical contractor
M.R. Electricians Electrical contractor
McIntyre's Electrical Service Electrical contractor
RCH Electric Electrical contractor
Saffer Total Home Electrical contractor
Stella Electric Electrical contractor
Super Electric LLC Electrical contractor
THE ELECTRICIANS Electrical contractor
Weisman Electric Company Electrical contractor
Winn Electric Contracting Inc. Electrical contractor
HVAC & plumbing contractors that install generators (18)
Alger Oil & Propane HVAC / plumbing contractor
B&B Air Conditioning & Heating Service HVAC / plumbing contractor
Belair Engineering and Service Company, Inc. HVAC / plumbing contractor
Boothe's Heating, Air, Plumbing, Drains & Electrical HVAC / plumbing contractor
Burch Oil & Propane HVAC / plumbing contractor
C. Albert Matthews Inc. HVAC / plumbing contractor
Constellation Home Services HVAC / plumbing contractor
GAC Services HVAC / plumbing contractor
Hickman Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning HVAC / plumbing contractor
James A Wheat & Sons HVAC / plumbing contractor
Larry & Sons HVAC / plumbing contractor
Michael Bonsby HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical HVAC / plumbing contractor
Scardina Home Services HVAC / plumbing contractor
Service Today Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing and Electrical HVAC / plumbing contractor
Starkey Mechanical, Inc. HVAC / plumbing contractor
TriState Home Services HVAC / plumbing contractor
United Air Temp HVAC / plumbing contractor
United Service Specialists HVAC / plumbing contractor
Power in Maryland
Maryland's grid gets tested hardest in summer. The June 29, 2012 derecho tore across the state on a 100-degree evening and left more than 762,000 BGE customers in the dark — the average outage ran 38 hours and some lasted over a week — while statewide outages topped 1.7 million. Nine years earlier Hurricane Isabel drove a record storm surge up the Chesapeake, flooding Annapolis and the Eastern Shore and cutting power to roughly 1.24 million Marylanders. Between the headline storms, summer thunderstorms, nor'easters, and the occasional hurricane remnant keep the lights flickering. When the grid drops in a July heat wave, the air conditioning, refrigerator, sump pump, and well go with it. A whole-home standby generator starts on its own within seconds and runs on natural gas or propane until BGE, Pepco, or your co-op restores the line.
Generator permits & codes in Maryland
- Who issues permits
- Permits and inspections are issued locally — by your county or municipal permit office (for example Montgomery, Baltimore, Anne Arundel, or Howard County) — which handles the building/electrical permit, the inspection, and any gas-line inspection. Electrician licensing, by contrast, is now statewide: the 2022 reform of the Maryland Electricians Act moved master, journeyperson, and apprentice licensing to the Maryland State Board of Electricians, and counties can no longer issue their own master or journeyperson electrician licenses.
- Timeline
- Varies by county. Most residential generator permits are issued without full plan review, with an electrical inspection (plus a mechanical/gas inspection where a gas line is run) once the work is complete; turnaround and fees differ from one county permit office to the next, so confirm locally before scheduling.
- Code in force
- Maryland enforces the Maryland Building Performance Standards (MBPS), which adopted the 2021 IBC and 2021 IRC statewide effective May 29, 2023, with local jurisdictions required to adopt within 12 months (by May 29, 2024) and free to add local amendments. The National Electrical Code is not part of the MBPS — it is adopted at the county/municipal level, so jurisdictions currently enforce either the 2020 or the 2023 NEC. Confirm the edition and any local amendments with your county permit office.
- Major utilities
- Five utilities cover the state under Public Service Commission regulation: BGE (Baltimore Gas & Electric) around Baltimore is the largest, Pepco covers Montgomery and Prince George's counties on the DC side, Delmarva Power serves the Eastern Shore, Potomac Edison (FirstEnergy) covers western Maryland, and SMECO — the Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative — serves Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary's counties. A permanently installed generator must be wired through a transfer switch by a licensed electrician so it can never backfeed the utility's lines.
- Worth knowing
- Maryland flips the usual pattern. Where states like Pennsylvania leave electrician licensing to each municipality, Maryland's 2022 reform consolidated it into a single statewide Board of Electricians — but the building code and NEC edition are still adopted county by county, and the permit is pulled at the local office. So the one thing to verify locally here is the county's code and permit rules, not your electrician's license.
Common questions about whole house generators in Maryland
How much does a standby generator cost installed in Maryland?
For a typical Maryland home, budget roughly $9,000–$15,000 all-in for
a whole-house air-cooled standby unit (about 18–26 kW): the
generator, the automatic transfer switch, a pad, the fuel hookup, the
electrical work, and county permits. A smaller essentials-only unit
(10–14 kW) runs about $6,000–$9,000, and liquid-cooled units for
large homes climb past $20,000. Fuel is the swing factor: the
Baltimore–DC corridor and the close-in Montgomery, Howard, and Anne
Arundel suburbs mostly have natural-gas service, while Eastern Shore
and western-mountain homes without a gas main run on a propane tank
that adds to the up-front cost.
Do I need a permit to install a generator in Maryland?
Yes. A standby generator is a permitted job in every Maryland
jurisdiction — your county or municipal permit office issues the
building/electrical permit and inspects the work, plus a mechanical or
gas inspection where a gas line is run. Licensing here is unusual in a
good way: since the 2022 reform Maryland licenses electricians at the
state level through the Maryland State Board of Electricians, which
issues master, journeyperson, and apprentice licenses statewide —
counties can no longer issue their own master or journeyperson
licenses. Your installer's electrician should hold a current state
license and pull the county permit; treat anyone who offers to skip the
permit as a red flag.
What size generator do I need in Maryland?
That comes down to a load calculation, which any good installer runs
during the site visit. Maryland has a few loads worth calling out.
Summer air conditioning is the first — the humid Baltimore–DC heat
waves are exactly when the derecho-type storms knock the grid out, and
central AC is a heavy start-up load. The sump pump is the second, since
the same storms that cut power flood the basement. Winter heating adds
a third: even a gas furnace needs electricity for its blower. Rural
Eastern Shore and western-county homes on a private well add a fourth.
Essentials only fits in 10–14 kW; a typical whole house lands at
18–26 kW; a soft-start on the AC can keep the unit smaller.
Generac, Kohler, Cummins, or Briggs & Stratton — does the brand matter?
All four make reliable home standby units; the installer and the
service relationship afterward matter more than the badge. Generac has
the largest dealer network in Maryland, so parts and warranty techs are
easy to find from the Baltimore suburbs to the DC line and out to the
Eastern Shore; Kohler and Cummins have strong dealers around the
Baltimore–DC metro. A factory-authorized dealer can perform
warranty service on its own brand, which is worth weighing when two
brands otherwise look alike. Use the brand pages here to see who
installs and services each one near you.
How long does installation take?
The on-site work is usually one to two days once the unit is in hand:
set the pad, run the gas and electrical, mount the transfer switch, and
commission it. The calendar time is longer — a site visit and quote,
then the county permit, then the inspection. After a big derecho or a
hurricane remnant that timeline stretches, because every house in the
county wants a generator and an installer at the same moment. Ordering
ahead of the summer storm season, rather than the week after the lights
come back, is how you avoid competing for both the unit and the crew.
What maintenance does a standby generator need?
An annual service — oil and filter, spark plugs on schedule, a battery
check, and a load test — on top of the weekly self-test the unit runs
on its own. Maryland's humid summers and salt-air Chesapeake climate
are hard on connections and enclosures, so the annual inspection earns
its keep here; the point is to prove the unit works before the summer
storm season, not during it. Many Maryland installers listed here offer
maintenance plans, and several service brands they don't sell. Neglected
maintenance is the most common reason a generator fails to start when
the grid finally goes down.