TALLAHASEE, Fla. -- The ramifications of this year's hurricanes continue with the potential of laws mandating power generators at all new gasoline facilities looming in Florida at both the municipal and state level.
Two separate bills requiring generators in the Florida Senate and a third in the state House of Representatives are pending, as lawmakers gear up for a special session scheduled to begin this week. While the generator bills are actually set for formal discussion when lawmakers convene next March, Jim Smith, president of the Florida Petroleum [image-nocss] Marketers & Convenience Store Association, Tallahassee, Fla., told CSP Daily News that knowing state congressmen, the potential for discussion on the matter sooner rather than later clearly exists.
Yet another measure brewing in Miami-Dade County may require retailers to submit an emergency plan by February. The proposal has the potential of mandating generators at all gas stations in that county by June. Smith said none of the proposals discuss the size of generator or how much of the facility needs to be operational.
Simply powering the gasoline pumps at a station is different than keeping the entire facility up and running, he said. When asked about the difference, officials at Waukesha, Wis.-based Generac Power Systems said a typical c-store would require a generator with an output of about 150 kilowatts to remain operational. Such a generator would be able to power the entire facility, including cooler and refrigeration units. If gas pumps were the only concern, then a generator with considerably less power would be needed.
From his perspective, Smith said he believes that much of the facility would need power, even if gasoline was the only concern. He said the proposed laws fail to address power for ATMs or credit-card processing, which would thwart customer payment options. It's a typical overreaction fueled by the media, Smith said. We've never had good law come out of these things.
At the state level, as reported previously in CSP Daily News, Governor Jeb Bush said there is a need for stations to have generators for quick restoration of service after hurricanes and hinted he may support bills requiring that, but said the state should not pay for it.
Bush added that stations should buy generators. "Look at the supermarkets that were powered up with their own generators, very quickly getting product to their customers and compare that to the gas stations and you see that there's a need," he said. "The question is, should we subsidize it? And the answer is emphatically no. I think that oil companiesand I'm not begrudging them their profitsbut they've done quite well, very well. And we shouldn't be subsidizing something that they have an obligation to do."
Florida's proposed laws aside, officials at Generac said that events going back to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the blackout in 2003 across much of the eastern seaboard has highlighted the need for generatorseven for areas not prone to hurricanes.
The benefit of laws such as the ones proposed in Florida lies in leveling the playing field for all retailers, said Mike Kirchner, sales training manager for Generac. That way it becomes just another cost of doing business for everyone.
Another trend that Generac officials see occurring is how suppliers like themselves have begun to gear product toward end-users such as c-store operators. Mike Carr, manager of marketing communications, said that in the past, issues of price and logistics were barriers to smaller businesses like c-stores.
We're doing all we can to put standby power within reach of all kinds of businesses, said Carr. [Our] new designs are priced 20% to 30% lower than previous offerings and are easy for electrical contractors to install, resulting in additional savings. We've broken the cost barrier and made this an affordable solution.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.