Paxos Electric Company, LLC, an owner-operated electrical contractor in Wharton, New Jersey, weighed in on federal data showing U.S. customers averaged 11 hours without power in 2024, and on what that figure means for standby generator owners in Morris County.
The commentary lands in the middle of late-summer thunderstorm season and the opening weeks of peak Atlantic hurricane activity, a stretch that routinely takes down power across northern New Jersey's older, heavily wooded suburbs. Paxos Electric works in Wharton along with Denville, Jefferson, Roxbury Township, Sparta, Mendham, Chester and Succasunna, communities along the Route 15 and Interstate 80 corridors where a large share of households run on well pumps, septic systems and sump pumps that stop the moment utility power does. In those homes, an outage is not an inconvenience but a water and drainage problem.
"Most of the generator failures we find during an outage were visible months earlier. A dead battery, a rodent nest, stale fuel," said John Paxos, co-owner of Paxos Electric Company, LLC. "By the time the storm arrives, the window to catch that has already closed."
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported in its Electric Power Annual 2024 that the average American electricity customer went roughly 11 hours without service that year, nearly double the annual average of the preceding decade, and that major events such as hurricanes and severe storms accounted for 80% of those hours. Paxos said that concentration is the part homeowners tend to misread: outage time is not spread evenly across the year but stacked into a handful of severe weather days, which is precisely when a generator that has sat idle since installation is asked to carry a full house.
What the company's technicians encounter on those calls, according to Paxos, is rarely a catastrophic mechanical failure. More often it is a battery that never got tested, an enclosure that became a nesting site over the spring, fuel that degraded in storage or a unit whose weekly exercise cycle was switched off years ago because a homeowner found the noise irritating.
Paxos also drew a line between what an owner can reasonably assess and what requires instrumentation. Load calculations that determine which circuits a generator will actually carry, automatic transfer switch testing and load bank testing that verifies full-capacity operation all fall outside owner territory, he said, and are the areas where undersized or misconfigured systems tend to surface. The company's maintenance programs run bi-annual visits for residential systems and quarterly inspections for commercial and industrial sites, with contract customers receiving priority dispatch during widespread outages.
Paxos Electric is a factory-authorized dealer for both Kohler and Generac, lists state electrical license No. 15380 on its contact page and has been accredited by the Better Business Bureau since 2007 with an A+ rating. It holds a 4.7-star average rating on Google. Unlike contractors that subcontract generator work, the company completes installation, transfer switch wiring and maintenance with its own factory-trained technicians and backs labor with a one-year warranty. Brothers John and Mike Paxos, who founded the business in 2004, oversee technician training directly. Office hours run Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with on-call service Saturdays and Sundays.
"A standby unit is only as good as its transfer switch and its last service call," said Mike Paxos, co-owner. "Our approach focuses on load calculations and testing under load, so an owner knows exactly which circuits will stay on."
The stakes shift again for commercial and medical properties. Mike Paxos noted that small medical offices and care facilities carry documentation requirements for backup power that a residential install never faces, and that critical circuit identification, not generator size, is usually the harder conversation. Paxos Electric also supports Habitat for Humanity and local school and community organizations in the Wharton area.
Homeowners and facility managers throughout Morris and Sussex counties can compare standby and portable options, review maintenance program tiers or request a free estimate for standby generator installation from Paxos Electric Company at https://paxoselectric.com/generator-services/. The company also reviews written estimates from other electricians and provides second opinions by phone at (973) 598-8543.
Information is believed accurate at the time of publication. Contact Paxos Electric Company, LLC directly for current details.
About Paxos Electric Company, LLC
Paxos Electric Company, LLC is an owner-operated electrical contractor serving commercial, industrial and residential clients in the Wharton, New Jersey area since 2004. Brothers John and Mike Paxos lead a team with more than 25 years of industry experience, providing generator sales, installation, maintenance and repair as an authorized Kohler and Generac dealer. The company is located at 255 NJ-15, Wharton, NJ 07885, and can be reached at (973) 598-8543 or https://paxoselectric.com/.
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For more information about Paxos Electric Company, LLC, contact the company here:
Paxos Electric Company, LLC
John Paxos
19735988543
mpaxos@paxoselectric.com
255 NJ-15, Wharton, NJ 07885, United States
