UTILITIES

Cost depends on size of generator and how many "bells & whistles" you have. A small unit that you have to manually start yourself and "connect" with enough to power for a few lights and a refrigerator will cost around $3,000. Whole house generators with automatic start and interface can run upwards of $20,000.

lol uhhhh I got mine from home depot for $700. Powers everything I need it to for a 3bd room and all my electronics, fridge washer etc. We don't have AC though.

For $3,000 I'd expect a small standby generator with automatic transfer switch although installation labor may be additional if you don't install it yourself.. For $700 or $800 it would be a portable generator that you manually start (might have an electric starter) and individually plug in your loads into the generator receptacles. There are other options in between. I have an installation in the states with a 15kW portable generator which runs on natural gas (or gasoline) using a plug in appliance gas line and a manual transfer switch. Has to be manually started and switched over but no appliance cords to deal with.

It's very dependent on one's specific situation, needs and finances.

This is so true but generally the advice to rent before buying in the VI seems to be appropriate more times than not. That being said it wasn't appropriate for us either.

And we all think we have problems with WAPA

Outer-banks-power-could-be-out-for-up-to-two-weeks

Whimps!
They should try going without power for over 2 months and more!
And having lives, businesses, basic utilities destroyed, taking years, in some cases to be brought back.

For what its worth, our power bill is $60-70 a month with no A/C or dryer for clothes and we have an instant hot water heater.

We do have a small solar system with batteries that powers some 12V fans and lights. So when WAPA goes out in the middle of the night we sleep right through it because the fans keep working 🙂

I agree with Alana though. We have rented in the same place for 7 years now at $1000/month. Thats over $70,000 I have given the landlords with nothing to show for it and all things we have planted and seen grow to maturity are not really ours.

So we bought some property and building West Indian style- a little at a time. It gives us great satisfaction to see our plantings grow and to know that we have a place that belongs to us.

Congratulations Matt.
Hope your building project goes well.

What island are you talking about?

ExitZero,

Great detailed post, thx much!