What does GenerLink do? The switch allows you to easily and safely connect a portable generator at your home during a power outage. "Both the utility and the Department of Public Safety need to make sure that that device complies with the safety requirement for Canada," he said.ĬBC News contacted CSA and ULC for more information on the product's status but did not receive a response.ĭoucet says the provincial government is investigating the product's safety, but could not provide a timeline for when that investigation will be completed.What is GenerLink? It is a socket-mounted transfer switch that is installed behind your electric meter. "It's that odd spot that causes all the standards confusion. "Our authority starts where the connection is made to the homeowner's house," said Doucet. He says that because the linkage is situated between a residential structure and a utility, it falls into a grey area of jurisdiction. Staeben says without signoff from the province, the technology will remain blacklisted.ĭoucet says it's the physical location of the product's installation that causes confusion over approval authority. " will not approve Generlink and have asked NBP not to install it on our meters," spokesperson Brent Staeben wrote in an email to CBC News. NB Power went a step further, noting the province requested NB Power not install the devices. In a statement to CBC News, NB Power spokesperson Deborah Nobes wrote "Approval authority for the sale or use of GenerLink, or any other electrical device in New Brunswick, resides with the Government of New Brunswick's Department of Public Safety, not NB Power." "We operate under the same safety guidelines, but we're two separate authorities having jurisdiction." "We both have to agree it's safe to use this device. "Both the utility and public safety should sign off on it before it's used," said Doucet. Pierre Doucet, Department of Public Safety We both have to agree it's safe to use this device. In New Brunswick, Doucet says both Public Safety and the utility should sign off on the product. "We want to ensure the product is safe, that the people of Nova Scotia have no concerns with regards to safety and this is an alternative way that is permitted within almost every jurisdiction across this country," said McLeod. And with that label we, or I, will accept that product as meeting the requirements for safety and allow that product to be installed and used. "They follow the appropriate codes and standards to perform these tests on these products which then they will apply a mark or a label saying the testing has been performed. "The special inspection is a testing procedure done and performed by an accredited inspection agency, we call them inspection bodies," he said. "I have the authority, as most provinces do, for their chief inspector to allow this," said McLeod. "They can either buy them online or get them through their local electrical supplier. "This is a product that is available to people in Nova Scotia," said McLeod. In Nova Scotia, the province's chief electrical inspector, David McLeod, said that province has gone ahead with approving the product without CSA or ULC certification. We need it to be fully certified by Canadian standards before signing off on it. "We need it to be fully certified by Canadian standards before signing off on it," he said. "We could approve it, but why would we? You're putting the province at risk." "We would be more than happy to accept and recommend them as long as they were fully certified," said Doucet. In New Brunswick, homeowners cannot install the product while the province waits for approval by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) or another standards body, like the Underwriters Laboratories of Canada (ULC), according to Pierre Doucet, the certification co-ordinator and electrical inspector with the Department of Public Safety. Its website states: "Listed below are the provinces that have approved the GenerLink … NS, NFLD, PEI, ON, MAN, ALB, SK, YK. ()The product GenerLink, a transfer switch installed in a residential power meter to regulate the power going to a home from a generator, is available in all other provinces except British Columbia and Quebec, according to the product's distributor. The product allows a generator to power a home during hurricanes and blizzards without having to rewire.
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