Before the season: the generator connection installed and tested under load, surge protection live at the panel, the panel itself sound (no warm breakers, no corrosion surprises), and a photograph set of the meter, mast, and panel for the record. Storm week is when every one of those becomes a queue instead of an appointment.
In Santa Cruz, the hurricane power guide questions are read against a local fact first: Santa Cruz sits where the San Lorenzo River meets Monterey Bay, a coastal city whose Westside, downtown, and Seabright neighborhoods sit between the water and the redwood foothills. That fact is what changes the order of the steps below for a Santa Cruz household: what gets documented first, what can wait a day, and which call is the first call. The sequence itself is the standing one for this work; the local detail is what makes it this city's version of it.
During the outage: generator outside and away from windows, feeding the inlet, never a dryer outlet; the main breaker managed exactly as your interlock or transfer switch requires; and sensitive electronics unplugged where surge protection is absent, because the roughest power of an event is often the restoration surge, not the storm itself.
After: walk the service before assuming the home is whole. A mast pulled by a limb, a meter base shifted, or water in outdoor boxes are utility and electrician findings that should be assessed before full load returns. If half the house is dim or wild in brightness after restoration, that is a possible lost utility neutral: reduce loads, call the utility, and treat it as urgent, because that fault damages equipment by the hour.
Prefer to talk later? Leave your details and an independent local pro will call you back. No charge to you, no obligation.
San Lorenzo Electric is a free referral service. Submitting this form connects you with independent local contractors who provide the work.