How Much Do Generators Cost To Run?

Knowing the cost of running your generator is essential to any generator purchase. Before you buy your generator, you need to know how much fuel that generator consumes per hour so that you can factor that into the overall costs. So how much do generators cost to run? This article will help you assess the costs of running a whole home generator.

Finding Out How Much Generator Fuel Costs

Whole home generators will come with a manual outlining how much fuel they use per hour. This will be essential to understanding how much your generator costs to run. However, there are also some rough estimates of whole home generator fuel costs depending on the generator you use. 

Gasoline Fuel Costs

Gasoline generators are one of the most common types of whole home generators. A standard generator uses three-quarters of a gallon per hour. The cost of fuel varies day by day, which can make it difficult to estimate the costs ahead of time. At the moment, the cost of fuel in the US is $3.50, which makes running your generator for an hour cost $2.63. Half a day of running your generator will cost you $31.5, while a full 24 hours will cost you $63.

Diesel

Diesel generators are also subject to fluctuating costs but will generally cost more than running a gasoline generator at $4.28 per gallon. Diesel generators also require more fuel to run at 1.6 gallons, meaning it will cost you $6.85 for an hour of your diesel generator, $82 for half a day, and $164 for 24 hours.

Natural Gas

Many homes receive a natural gas supply, making it a useful fuel choice for whole home generators. A standard generator will use about 118 cubic feet of gas per hour. Current costs are roughly $15.95 per thousand cubic feet of natural gas. Running a natural gas generator for an hour would cost $1.88 per hour, $22.6 per half day, and $45.17 per day. A week of use would total $316, the equivalent of running a diesel generator for two days.

Propane Gas

Propane gas is a more sustainable alternative to traditional gasoline generators but traditionally costs more. A standard generator would process 3.45 gallons of fuel per hour at $0.83 per gallon. Fortunately, current propane prices have declined continuously since 2022. An hour of use would cost $2.83, half a day would cost $34, and a day of use would cost $68. At the current rates, it is only marginally more expensive than using gasoline generators.

Final Thoughts

The fluctuating and volatile gasoline prices have made many cleaner fuel alternatives, like propane gas, marginally more expensive. However, many cleaner fuel types take more fuel to run, meaning that as prices rise and fall, running a whole home generator fueled by propane gas might become more expensive.
Do you want to find out more about whole home generator costs? Contact our expert team at Generator Supercenter of Nashville today, or browse our product range for more information.