After a rough hurricane season, we sat down with Tampa Bay's Morning Blend to talk about how our battery customers stayed powered while neighbors went dark for days, and why the smartest time to prepare is before the next storm forms.
May Electric Solar on Tampa Bay's Morning Blend
We joined Tampa Bay's Morning Blend to check in after a rough hurricane season and talk through what actually kept our customers' lights on. Owner William May walked through the real outcomes, why a battery has become the backup of choice over a generator, and how homeowners can get ready before the next storm. Watch the segment below.
How our customers fared last hurricane season
The numbers told the story. Of the roughly 90 customers in the hardest-hit area, more than 50 lost grid power for anywhere from 3 days to 17 days. Our battery customers, on the other hand, stayed up and running the whole time.
In fact, several of them became the house everyone else came to. Neighbors walked over to charge phones and stay connected while the rest of the street waited for the utility to restore power. That is the difference a battery makes when a storm rolls through: not just comfort, but a genuine lifeline for your family and the people around you.
Why a battery beats a generator
Generators have their place, but for storm backup a modern battery wins on almost every front:
- Instant, seamless switchover: when the grid drops, the battery takes over in a fraction of a second. There is no waiting for an engine to crank and no scramble to start anything. Many homeowners barely notice the power went out, where a generator leaves you in the dark until it spins up.
- Longevity: our battery systems carry a 15-year warranty, where a generator typically runs about 5.
- Silent and clean: no engine noise, no fumes.
- No fuel, no babysitting: a generator wants fresh fuel and an oil check roughly every 72 hours during a long outage. A battery needs zero customer interaction. It just works.
- It recharges itself: paired with solar, the battery refills from the sun each day, so a multi-day outage doesn't drain you to empty.
It runs quietly in the background and is there the moment you need it, no manual starting and no trips to find fuel during a storm.
A story we love: Monkey Island
One of our favorite proof points isn't even a house. We installed a system on Monkey Island, the little Homosassa landmark and its resident monkeys. When the hurricanes came through, the system did its job: the island kept its power, stayed dry, and the monkeys rode out the storm better than a lot of their human neighbors did. If it can keep the lights on for Monkey Island, it can do the same for your home.
Now is the time to prepare
Here is the part homeowners underestimate: backup power is not something you can arrange once a storm is already in the Gulf. Evaluating your home, engineering the system, pulling permits, and installing all take time. Starting well ahead of a storm is the only way to be ready when one actually forms.
The good news is that a battery is customizable, and you do not need to already have solar. Whether we are adding storage to an existing system or installing solar and a battery together, we look at how your home uses power and design backup around the loads that matter most. Want to see how long a battery would carry your home? Try our battery runtime calculator, and for the full rundown read our guide on battery backup for Florida hurricane season.
Get storm-ready before the next one
Storm season does not wait, and neither should your backup plan. If keeping the lights on matters to your family, request a free, no-pressure quote or call us at (727) 819-2862, and we will design a solar-plus-battery system sized to your home, in plenty of time for the next storm.