What happens to my ENMAX meter during a generator-powered outage?

Your ENMAX meter remains in place and is not affected during a generator-powered outage — the meter simply stops registering consumption from the grid because no grid power is flowing. Your generator powers your home through a transfer switch that physically disconnects your home from the ENMAX grid, so generator-produced electricity does not flow through or register on your meter.

Understanding how the transfer switch interacts with the meter helps clarify what happens electrically. Your ENMAX meter sits between the utility power lines and your main electrical panel. When grid power is flowing normally, electricity passes through the meter (which records your consumption), through the main breaker, and into your panel to feed all your circuits. When a power outage occurs and your standby generator starts, the automatic transfer switch disconnects your panel from the grid side (the meter and utility lines) and connects it to the generator feed instead. The meter is now electrically isolated — no current flows through it in either direction. You are consuming generator fuel, not grid electricity, so ENMAX has nothing to bill you for during the outage.

The critical safety point is that the transfer switch prevents backfeed — generator-produced electricity flowing backward through the meter and onto the ENMAX distribution lines. If this were to happen, it would be extremely dangerous for ENMAX utility workers who may be repairing downed lines or working on transformers during the outage. They rely on isolation procedures that assume de-energized lines are truly dead. A backfeeding generator sends lethal voltage onto lines that workers believe are safe to touch. This is why the Canadian Electrical Code and Alberta Building Code absolutely require a CSA-approved transfer switch, and why the Safety Codes Officer verifies anti-backfeed protection during the permit inspection.

When grid power is restored, the automatic transfer switch detects the return of utility voltage, waits a few minutes to verify it is stable (to avoid transferring back during a momentary restoration that drops again), and then switches your panel back to grid power. The generator runs for a short cool-down period and then shuts off. Your ENMAX meter resumes recording your grid consumption as normal. The entire transfer-back process is automatic with a standby generator and ATS — you do not need to do anything.

There are a few ENMAX-related considerations Calgary homeowners should be aware of regarding generators. First, if your generator installation requires a service entrance upgrade — upgrading from 100A to 200A service, for example — this involves work on the meter base, which requires coordination with ENMAX. Your electrician contacts ENMAX to schedule a disconnect (ENMAX pulls the meter), performs the meter base and service entrance work, and then ENMAX reinstalls the meter and reconnects service. There is typically a fee of $100 to $300 for the ENMAX disconnect and reconnect, and scheduling can take 1 to 3 weeks.

Second, if you have solar panels with net metering through ENMAX, the interaction between your solar system, generator, and the grid requires careful configuration. Your solar inverter must be set to shut down during a grid outage (which is standard anti-islanding behaviour), and the transfer switch must be positioned correctly in the circuit to ensure the generator does not attempt to power the solar inverter's grid-tie connection. If you want solar to charge a battery system that works alongside the generator, that requires additional engineering that your electrician can design.

For communities outside Calgary city limits served by FortisAlberta rather than ENMAX, the same principles apply — the meter is isolated during generator operation, and no grid consumption is recorded. The coordination process for service entrance work is similar but goes through FortisAlberta instead. Your licensed electrician handles all utility coordination as part of the generator installation project. Find experienced generator installers through the Calgary Construction Network.