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Rural Power Outage Planning in Ontario: Well Pump, Sump, Septic Pump, Furnace and Freezer, Portable Generator With an Inlet and Interlock vs Standby, and a Written Outage Plan
Electrical & Lighting
When the Power Goes Out in the Country, the Water Goes Out Too
In town, an outage is a dark house and a warm fridge. In rural Simcoe County and Georgian Bay it is also no water, no toilets after the first flush, a sump pit filling in a spring thaw and, on some septic systems, a pump chamber that stops pumping. Add a January ice storm and the furnace quits too. This page lists the loads that matter, what it takes to keep them running, and the plan to write down before you need it.
The numbers
$950inlet and interlock for a portable generator, default
2,000 to 3,000 Wto start a typical 1/2 hp well pump
$13,00022 kW standby generator, default
neverbackfeed through a dryer outlet
| Way to get backup power | Installed | Default or note |
|---|---|---|
| Generator inlet and interlock kit at the panel | $700 to $1,200 | $950; generator extra |
| Manual transfer switch for chosen circuits | $800 to $1,500 | generator extra |
| Generator inlet in a new house, at rough-in | $700 to $1,200 | sleeve before the pour in ICF |
| Standby generator 14 to 18 kW, automatic | $8,500 to $13,000 | |
| Standby generator 20 to 26 kW, automatic | $11,000 to $18,000 | $13,000 (22 kW) |
| Home battery, one Powerwall 3, 13.5 kWh | $15,500 to $24,000 | $19,000 |
Researched ranges from Ontario contractor and dealer pages, October 2026. HST is 13 percent on top. The connection is done by a Licensed Electrical Contractor under an ESA notification, or by you in your own home with your own notification filed first.
Why Ontario prices are all over the map: backup power is one of the widest spreads we found. For a 22 kW standby, a Barrie electrical contractor said $11,000 to $16,000, a generator dealer’s site said $10,500 to $12,500, and a GTA company said $18,000 to $35,000 for whole-home units of 20 to 48 kW. The gap is the gas line length, the kind of transfer switch, and how far the generator sits from the panel. For most rural houses the first $950 for an inlet and interlock buys more safety per dollar than anything else on this page. Get two or three quotes on the same written scope.
The Loads That Matter
| Load | Typical running watts | Typical starting watts |
|---|---|---|
| 1/2 hp submersible well pump | about 1,000 | 2,000 to 3,000 |
| 1 hp submersible well pump | 1,500 to 2,000 | 4,000 to 6,000 |
| Sump pump, 1/3 hp | about 800 | 1,500 to 2,500 |
| Septic effluent pump, where the system has one | check the nameplate | check the nameplate |
| Fridge | 150 to 300 | about 1,200 |
| Freezer | check the nameplate | |
| Furnace blower and controls | 500 to 800 | |
| Boiler controls and circulators | 150 to 300 |
Typical figures. Your pump’s nameplate or the well contractor’s invoice tells you the horsepower; a deep well often has the bigger pump.
The rule of thumb for a generator: add up the running watts of everything you want on at once, then add the biggest single starting surge on top. Say a 1/2 hp well pump, a sump, the fridge, a freezer at 300, the furnace blower at 800 and 300 W of lights: 1,000 + 800 + 300 + 300 + 800 + 300 = 3,500 W running. The well pump needs up to 2,000 W more for a second to start, so 5,500 W. A portable in the 6,500 to 8,000 W class does it with room to spare. Swap in a 1 hp pump and it climbs fast.
The sump matters most in March and April; the sump pump page covers battery backup pumps for the pit itself. The well is covered on the well water page.
Never Backfeed. Not Once, Not Carefully
The so-called suicide cord, a cord with a male plug on both ends run from the generator into a dryer outlet, is how people get killed in ice storms. It energizes the whole house wiring with nothing to stop it going back out to the street, where the transformer steps it up to thousands of volts on a line the crew believes is dead. It can also burn your house down when the power comes back on with the generator still connected. It is the cheapest way to connect a generator right up until the funeral.
A permanent generator connection needs a transfer switch or an interlock and an ESA notification. Those are the honest options:
- Inlet and interlock, $700 to $1,200. A weatherproof inlet outside, a cable to the panel, and a mechanical interlock that makes it impossible to have the main breaker and the generator breaker on at the same time. You choose which circuits to run by switching breakers. Cheapest real option.
- Manual transfer switch, $800 to $1,500. A small panel of chosen circuits, each with a switch from line to generator. Easier in the dark.
- A plug-in meter-base transfer device. ESA Bulletin 2-33-0 (May 2026) says a Licensed Electrical Contractor installing an approved one under ESA’s conditions does not need a notification; a homeowner doing it must file. Ask your utility whether it allows one on its meter.
- Automatic standby, about $13,000 for a 22 kW; the standby generator cost page prices it.
I am not going to explain how to connect any of them; that is the electrician’s job, and the explaining is what the notification and the inspection are for. On our own builds in Simcoe, Muskoka and Georgian Bay it is done by the licensed electrical contractor we hire, under their licence.
Running the Generator Without Hurting Anybody
Never run a generator in the house or the garage, even with the door open. Put a portable well away from windows and doors and downwind if you can. Working CO alarms in the house matter even more with a generator running outside; the smoke and CO alarm page has the rules on where they go.
Store fuel outside the house in approved cans with stabilizer, and exercise the generator as often as its manual says so it starts when you need it. A portable that sat for two years with old gas in the carburettor is the most expensive paperweight in the shed.
A Written Outage Plan for the Panel Door
- Which circuits run on the generator, by breaker number, and the order to turn them on: well pump, sump, furnace, fridge, freezer, lights.
- Where the generator lives, where the fuel is, how many hours a tank runs it, and where the extension cords are not allowed.
- The utility’s outage number and the electrician’s number.
- Water: fill jugs and the bathtub when the storm warning comes, because the well quits the moment the power does.
- The septic pump chamber: ask your septic installer how many flushes of reserve the chamber holds, and write it down.
- Freezer rules: keep it shut, and know which food goes first.
- How to switch the house to the generator and back to the utility, written out step by step by the electrician who installed the connection, in their order, not yours.
For the rest of what a rural lot needs, the rural lot utilities page covers hydro, wells and septic together.
Questions people ask
What size generator do I need to run a well pump?
A 1/2 hp submersible pump typically runs at about 1,000 W and needs 2,000 to 3,000 W to start. Add that surge to everything else you want running. A typical rural house with a 1/2 hp pump, sump, fridge, freezer and furnace needs about a 6,500 to 8,000 W portable, or more with a 1 hp pump.
Can I plug my generator into the dryer outlet?
No, never. A double-ended cord backfeeds the house and the utility line, can kill a lineman and can burn the house. A permanent connection needs a transfer switch or an interlock and an ESA notification.
How much is a generator interlock in Ontario?
An inlet and interlock kit at the panel is $700 to $1,200 installed before HST, about $950 typical, plus the generator. A manual transfer switch is $800 to $1,500.
Does a septic system work in a power outage?
A gravity system keeps working as long as you have water to flush, which on a well you will not. A system with an effluent pump stops pumping, and the chamber holds only so much. Ask your septic installer.
Add up your own outage loads
The generator and battery sizing calculator takes your well pump, sump, furnace, fridge and freezer, adds the starting surge, and gives the generator size, the battery hours and the installed cost of each. If you have quotes for an interlock or a standby, the $99 review reads up to three and tells you what each one left out.
Sources and further reading
- ESA: generator safety: transfer devices, the notification for a permanent connection, and never running a generator indoors.
- ESA Bulletin 2-33-0: meter base plug-in transfer devices: the May 2026 rules for plug-in generator transfer devices at the meter.
- Ontario Fire Code: carbon monoxide alarm changes: the January 1, 2026 rule for a CO alarm on every storey and by each sleeping area.
