Don't wait until you need one, they're complicated little gizmos.  They require a LOT of shopping around for best prices and gettting the right advice from the right people.  When you DO purchase one, make sure it's classified as only a stand-by generator (portable, basically) because a whole house generator will cost you upwards of $18 - $20,000 dollars.  NO ONE has that kind of money right now - at least no one who needs to worry about brownouts and blackouts and winter storms, etc.

https://www.westernjournal.com/report-americans-see-mass-power-shutoffs-experts-sound-off-alarming-new-data/?ats_es=b1798f26764e0d5fc6b5dbba3b874b7e

I have no overdue power bills, but I'm far more concerned about the weather than I am about the local electric company, who has been jabbing people all over the USA for years already.  They've overcharged for years.

This is why natural gas is so nice to have.  I almost wish my whole house was based on natural gas.  I might look into that and see what that would cost and if it's even possible.  Right now, nat gas is a much better buy than electricity.

No matter what the elitist snobs in the White House group keep telling us, electricity in not the future.  Not even close.  Besides, electricity is dirty energy.  "GREENIE energy" is not the future either.