For years, the generator outside the shop was simply part of Pakistani life. You pulled the cord, it roared, and the fans came back. It still works, but fuel prices have changed the maths, and solar with lithium storage has become a serious alternative.
- Generator: low upfront cost, ongoing fuel and servicing, noise and fumes.
- Solar plus battery: higher upfront, very low running cost, silent.
- The more hours of backup you need, the faster solar pays off.
- For rare, short outages, a small generator can still be practical.
What a generator really costs
The purchase price is only the start. A small petrol generator burns fuel every hour it runs, needs oil changes, spark plugs and air filters, and wears out faster with daily use. Add the cost of someone going to fetch petrol, and the noise your neighbours put up with.
A simple way to estimate: note how many litres your generator uses per hour at your typical load, multiply by hours of load shedding per day and by the current petrol price. Do it for a month. Most people are surprised by the total.
What solar with battery costs
Solar plus battery costs more on day one. After that, the running cost is close to zero: occasional panel cleaning, and a battery that should last many years if sized and used well. During the day, panels also cut your grid bill, which a generator never does.
Where each one wins
| Generator | Solar + battery | |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | Low | Higher |
| Running cost | Fuel every hour | Almost none |
| Noise and fumes | Yes | None |
| Switching | Manual or ATS | Automatic, seamless |
| Cuts your daily bill | No | Yes |
| Long outages, cloudy days | Strong, if you have fuel | Limited by battery size |
The middle path
Many shops and homes now run solar and battery as the main system and keep an old generator only for rare multi-day emergencies. Some hybrid inverters can even accept a generator as an input, so it charges the battery when needed.
A rule of thumb
If you run a generator more than an hour or two a day, most days, the fuel you’re burning is already paying a large part of a solar system’s cost. If outages are rare and short, a generator remains a reasonable backup.
To see what size solar backup you’d need, read solar backup for load shedding and try the load calculator.
Tired of the generator?
Tell us what it runs and for how long. We’ll suggest a solar and battery setup to replace it.