Discovery Bay sits in the same PG&E PSPS corridor as Brentwood and Byron, with one additional twist: it's a Delta waterfront community. Most homes here have private docks with boat lifts, dock lighting, dock refrigeration for the fishing haul, and — for the RV-and-boat households — 30A or 50A shore-power outlets that serve the toys. When PG&E de-energizes the East Contra Costa lines for three or four days in fall, the loss isn't just central AC and the fridge; it's also the boat lift, the dock lights, and (for households running their boats or RVs on shore power) the shore-power circuits themselves. Can Do It Electrical connects Discovery Bay homeowners with vetted licensed electricians who install whole-house standby generators — Generac Guardian 20-24kW, Kohler 20kW, plus the transfer switch wiring that keeps the dock circuits energized alongside the house loads. Work is performed by independent licensed contractors.
Discovery Bay's PSPS exposure traces the same East Contra Costa fire-weather corridor as Brentwood and Byron — the transmission lines PG&E de-energizes during Sierra and Delta wind events feed the whole region. Three- and four-day shutoffs are not unusual in fall. Combine that with Delta summer heat (regular 100°F-plus stretches), the reality that most Discovery Bay homes are on well and septic (so no power means no water and no sewage pump), and the boat and dock infrastructure investment most homeowners want to protect, and the generator math is very clear here.
Portable generators are common as a stopgap, but they don't run central AC, they don't automatically start when the grid goes down, and they can't feed the dock circuits from a fixed transfer switch. Most Discovery Bay households that go through one bad PSPS event upgrade to whole-house standby within a year.
Standard Central Valley residential sizing (2-ton AC, gas water heater, gas range, no well) lands most households at a 20 kW unit. Discovery Bay's typical load profile pushes higher for specific reasons:
Total running load with AC on: often 9,000-11,000W. Peak surge during AC + well startup: 20,000-25,000W. That sizes most Discovery Bay households to a 22-24 kW Generac. Larger waterfront custom homes sometimes need 26-30 kW.
Most installs take 3-4 weeks total: 1-2 weeks for permit and propane tank scheduling, 2-3 days for pad, gas line, and electrical work, plus PG&E interconnection paperwork. See our main generator hookup page and our Brentwood generator page for adjacent scope.
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