Can I Just Plug a Generator Into an Outlet?
No. Plugging a generator into an outlet feeds power backwards through your house wiring and out to the street. It's called backfeeding, it's illegal in Australia, and it can kill someone you'll never meet.
Backfeeding Through a Power Point
A power point is there to take power out of your wiring, not push it in. Rig a lead so a generator feeds a socket and the circuit goes live from the wrong end, back through the switchboard and out towards the network.
Queensland's Electrical Safety Office doesn't mince words. Never try to power the house wiring by plugging a generator into a wall outlet, it says, because backfeeding is extremely dangerous and bypasses some of the built-in household circuit protection.
How Power Travels Back to the Street
Your house hangs off a local transformer that also feeds your neighbours. The Electrical Safety Office says a generator feeding power back into the system during an outage will energise the transformer serving your house.
So the wires everyone assumes are dead during a blackout aren't. Ausgrid says backfeeding can energise powerlines its crews believe are switched off.
Who It Puts at Risk
The people in danger usually aren't at your place. Energex lists who can cop a life-threatening shock when a generator is connected through power points or makeshift leads: you and your family, your neighbours, anyone standing near fallen powerlines, and the emergency crews working to restore your supply.
Think about that last group. They're out in a storm, working on a line they've been told is off, and your generator is the reason it isn't.
Why It's Illegal in Australia
Feeding house wiring from a generator is electrical installation work. In NSW, by law any electrical installation work must be done by a licensed electrician. In Queensland, the Electrical Safety Office says connecting a generator to house wiring is a licensed electrician's job, done to AS/NZS 3000 (the Wiring Rules) and the network's requirements.
Energy Safe Victoria says the same thing in fewer words: never try to power the house by plugging the generator into a wall socket or connecting it to the switchboard.
What It Does to Your Generator and Appliances
Your own gear cops it too. Ausgrid warns backfeeding can damage your generator and household appliances. Energex adds that it could damage or destroy the generator when mains power is restored, which is its own story: what happens if power comes on while the generator is running.
Common Backfeeding Shortcuts
Turning Off the Main Switch First
This is the one that gets argued about at the pub. The idea is that if you flick the main switch off first, the generator can't reach the street.
The trouble is you're now relying on nobody touching that switch while the generator's plugged in, and on a lead that shouldn't exist. Neither Energy Safe Victoria nor the Electrical Safety Office makes an exception for it. The approved device is a changeover switch, which the Electrical Safety Office says allows power to feed from only one source at a time.
Suicide Leads and Modified Plugs
You can't backfeed through a socket without a lead that has a plug on both ends. Energex calls them "suicide leads" and puts them, along with modified plugs, on its list of things never to use.
The name isn't there for effect. With one end in a running generator, the bare pins on the other end are live.
Legal Ways to Run Appliances in a Blackout
There are two, and one of them costs nothing more than a decent extension lead.
Plug Appliances Straight Into the Generator
Run a heavy-duty, outdoor-rated extension lead from the generator to the fridge, a lamp or the phone chargers. The Electrical Safety Office says the lead should be rated in watts or amps at least equal to everything plugged into it, free of cuts, with all three pins including the earth pin.
Plugged in this way there's no path back to the electrical switchboard, so there's nothing to backfeed. Turn things on one at a time. Energex says appliances with motors use three to four times their running rating while they start, which is where most overloads come from. Our generator size guide does the sums.
Even our Champion 2.5kVA listing spells it out: if you're wiring it into a house or a shed, get a licensed electrician to fit a changeover switch, and never backfeed through a wall socket.
Hard-Wiring by a Licensed Electrician
If you want the generator to run house circuits rather than a few appliances, a licensed electrician fits a switch at the switchboard so the house takes power from the grid or the generator, never both. Energex says an isolating switch installed by a licensed electrical contractor is the only way to safely connect a generator to your home's wiring.
We've covered the methods and what your sparky does in how to connect a generator to your house in Australia. If you're still working out whether a generator can carry the house at all, start with can I use a generator to power my house.
So can you just plug a generator into an outlet? No. Plug your appliances into the generator, or get a licensed electrician to wire it in properly. Anything in between is backfeeding.
If you're choosing a generator for blackouts, the generator finder narrows it down to what you'll run. Or talk it through with us on 03 7056 6732, or SMS 0476 330 590.
