Knox County, TN — Generator Installation Guide
Standby Generator Guide for Farragut, TN
In Farragut your electricity comes from LCUB but your natural gas comes from KUB, and the permit is split: the Town issues the gas/mechanical permit while the State of Tennessee issues the electrical one. Here is what that changes about cost, sizing, and the quotes you compare.
Why Farragut Homeowners Buy Standby Generators
August 7, 2023
A rare EF-2 tornado (130 mph winds) tracked through West Knox County — from the Hardin Valley area toward Pellissippi Parkway, on Farragut’s doorstep. Across the wider storm more than 74,000 KUB customers lost power over the event, with roughly 83% of outages caused by trees. (NWS Morristown; KUB via local news.)
July 30, 2024
Severe storms and flash flooding swept East Tennessee, downing lines and closing roads across the region — Farragut sits in the same Tennessee River valley storm corridor. (Regional; local news.)
Restoration after events like the ones above is measured in days, not hours. A standby generator turns on within seconds — no extension cords, no starting a portable unit in the rain. The full Knoxville-metro outage record collects the dated events, customer counts and restoration times in one place.
Sources: NWS Morristown storm survey; KUB outage figures reported via WATE/WBIR. Retrieved 2026-07-21. The July 30, 2024 entry is regional context — no Farragut-specific outage count was published.
Farragut at a Glance
$583,400
Median Home Value
$142,093
Median Household Income
84.7%
Homeownership Rate
88.3% of housing
Single-Family Homes
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-yr (2020–2024), Town of Farragut, TN — median home value B25077; median household income B19013; homeownership B25003; single-family detached B25024. Retrieved 2026-07-01. Town-level figures shown: this page serves Farragut homeowners, and the Town of Farragut’s demographics diverge sharply from Knox County. County figures would materially understate this market.
What Does a Generator Cost in Farragut?
Farragut is in the Knoxville-area labor market. Installed costs run higher than the national averages you will find on generic home improvement sites. Installed pricing varies by home and site conditions. Request a quote for local Knoxville-area pricing.
Recommended size for Farragut
| Farragut Home Profile | Recommended Size |
|---|---|
| Typical home — ~2,500 sq ft, gas appliances, 3–4 ton central AC | 22kW |
22kW is the right call for most Farragut homes — a 2,500 sq ft house with gas appliances and a 3–4 ton central AC needs more load headroom than a 14kW unit can reliably hold during a summer outage.
Want the full sizing math — why 14kW runs out of headroom and where 22kW gets its margin? See the complete generator sizing guide.
Farragut Permit Requirements
A permit is required, and the authority is split: the Town of Farragut's Building & Fire Codes office issues the gas/mechanical permit, while the electrical permit is issued by the State of Tennessee (State Fire Marshal's Electrical Division) and purchased through the state CORE portal at core.tn.gov — not by the Town. There is no published flat generator permit fee; Town fees are set at application. Farragut Codes: 865-966-7057; State electrical division: 615-741-7170.
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Permit fee | Varies — set at application |
| Electric utility | Lenoir City Utilities Board (LCUB) |
| Gas utility | Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB)Farragut is served by Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB). A standby generator adds gas load; if it may exceed your existing meter or service capacity, ask your gas utility about a meter/service-capacity review before installation, and confirm who sizes the piping past the meter. |
| Setbacks — NFPA 37 / manufacturer |
|
HOA Note
A permit does not override HOA covenants (CC&Rs) — whichever authority issues it. Some HOAs require board approval, screening requirements, or specific placement for generator installations. Check your CC&Rs before ordering equipment; this is a separate process from permitting, and neither one waives the other.
What a Farragut homeowner has to decide
The physics of generator sizing is the same everywhere — that lives on the sizing guide. These are the parts that are specific to Farragut, and they are the parts an out-of-town quote gets wrong.
Your electric company is not your gas company here
Farragut homes buy electricity from Lenoir City Utilities Board and natural gas from KUB. This trips up more Farragut generator projects than any other local detail: guidance written for "Knoxville" assumes one utility handles both, and an installer working from that assumption will ask the wrong utility about your service capacity. Confirm both providers at your address before planning around a gas-fueled standby unit.
Two permit offices, two clocks
The Town of Farragut Building & Fire Codes office issues the gas/mechanical permit; the electrical permit comes from the State of Tennessee through the CORE portal at core.tn.gov, not from the Town. That is two applications with two separate turnarounds, and a proposal that budgets for one permit has under-budgeted the schedule. Farragut Codes is 865-966-7057; the State electrical division is 615-741-7170. There is no published flat generator permit fee — Town fees are set at application.
Larger homes and larger lots push the two biggest cost drivers the wrong way
Farragut’s housing stock skews large and detached — 88.3% single-family, with a median home value well above the county figure. Bigger homes mean more simultaneous load, which pushes toward whole-home coverage rather than an essential-circuits panel, and bigger lots often mean a longer gas run from the meter to the pad. Both are line items an installer should measure, not assume. Ask specifically how many feet of gas pipe are in the price.
You are on the 2023 tornado track
The August 7, 2023 EF-2 crossed West Knox County from the Hardin Valley area toward Pellissippi Parkway — Farragut’s doorstep. That is genuine local outage exposure rather than a regional statistic borrowed from elsewhere. Note that KUB customer counts from that event describe KUB’s territory, and your electric provider is LCUB, so treat those figures as regional context rather than a count of affected Farragut homes.
None of this is an engineering, electrical-code, gas-capacity, or permitting determination. Final sizing, scope, code compliance, fuel capacity, placement, and permitting require review by a licensed local professional who has seen the property. What this page can do is make sure you ask the right questions — the quote-comparison checklist is where those questions live. Whether that professional holds the licence your jurisdiction actually requires is something you can check yourself in the state and manufacturer registers, before anyone quotes you.
What Makes Farragut Different
Farragut splits its utilities: electricity is provided by Lenoir City Utilities Board (LCUB) and natural gas by Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB) — so a Farragut homeowner’s electric provider differs from Knoxville’s. LCUB is a TVA local power company. Confirm both services at your address before planning a gas-fueled standby generator. (Town of Farragut utilities page, verified July 2026.)
Generator permitting in Farragut is split between two authorities: the Town’s Building & Fire Codes office issues the gas/mechanical permit, while the electrical permit is issued by the State of Tennessee and purchased through the state CORE portal at core.tn.gov — not by the Town. (Town of Farragut + State of Tennessee, verified July 2026.)
Farragut sits in West Knox County, directly along the August 2023 EF-2 tornado’s damage path. The wooded terrain that makes the town attractive also drives outage risk: vegetation is the leading cause of power outages in East Tennessee.