Three more points:
1) Generlink is an automatic transfer switch. AUTOMATIC. That means you don't need to throw switches and breakers. You just plug it in. Now, all guys (from the bright to the dim) can throw switches, even during a hellacious thunderstorm or snowstorm, even at 3:00 am, even after a few beers, even after an argument with your wife, or a come-to-God conversation with your kids, or after looking at the bills and muttering to yourself, or after your team loses in the last second, or after ... etc etc
But do you trust EVERY SINGLE ONE of your neighbors to be able to throw the proper switches and breakers FIRST, before starting the generator, every single time the power goes out? How about the neighbor down the street who drinks too much or still smokes pot?
One single failure by one single neighbor out of how many thousands on your power grid results in sending lethal juice back out in the system where the lineman is working.
So ... now how do you want to run this thing for EVERYONE on your grid--manual, or automatic?
2) Assuming you're awake and smelling the coffee and choosing AUTOMATIC, in an apples-to-apples cost comparison, price out the labor and materials for installing an automatic transfer switch BETWEEN the meter and the existing service. You could do it yourself, and work on a hot 200 amp feed or call the power company to cut it off while you do it, but then you'd still need to know how to insert a transfer switch in an 18-inch length of wire with the diameter of an ax handle.
I'd say estimate a MINIMUM of $1,000 when all is said and done. It's probably closer to $1,500 or $2,000 for a proper job.
3) Do an apples-to-apples comparison of what $10 a month gets you. To put it more clearly: would you rather have $1,000 now or $10 a month for 8-9 years? Would you rather have $1,000 now or $10 a month for 20 years?
If you'd rather have the $1,000 now, then you'd rather PAY the $10 a month, right?
(And, yes, I remember the phone company renting you your phones. So?) (And, honestly, who wouldn't go back to those days before voicemail and cellphones etc. I mean, seriously, are we better off now, phone-wise? Has this phone/email/text/twitter business improved our lives? Come on ... ) (I do like touch-tone better than dial though.)
4) I don't care if the thing costs $50 to make. I don't care if it costs $1 to make. The truth is that EVERYTHING YOU CAN THINK OF costs $1 to make if you make enough of them and you make it in China.
My take is that I'm lucky my power company wants only $10 a month for an automatic transfer switch. They are doing it because THEY make money at $10 a month AND it keeps their linemen alive.
And, yes, I know that's four points, not three. The fourth one is free.
