(Copyright Newsday Inc., 2003)

After days of responding to anxious cries of "help," Hugh Gahn, the manager of Mayfair Powers Inc., a Freeport-based firm that rents and sell generators, is finally making appointments to install his highly-sought units.

"People are calling me interested in getting a generator or wanting to enlarge their current sets," Gahn said. "The blackouts were so widespread that people have lost confidence with the major utilities."

Since last week's historic blackout, industry analysts say many companies that provide backup systems or have a potential stake in fixing the nation's energy grids have seen a surge in customer demand. Publicly traded companies also have seen a spike in their stock price.

"President [George W.] Bush talked about taking a look at the old infrastructure and the need to upgrade it," said Chris Kwan, an analyst with TD Newcrest International, headquartered in Toronto. Some analysts and companies that promote on-site power say that the nation's dependency on massive centralized power plants connected through a web of antiquated transmission lines is no longer sustainable.

The biggest seller for Gahn is a commercial diesel-powered generator, which is installed and wired by one of his six service technicians. The residential sets run on gas, he added.

Among larger manufacturers, Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar Inc. is among several companies that have seen a spike in demand for its on-site generators since the blackout, said Carl Volz, a company spokesman. Since Thursday it has put 300 to 400 modules to use, which are pulled by semi-trailer trucks. While most were rented, the cost is $400,000 per truck. Twelve units were used in Manhattan's financial district.

Companies are still interested in using the products since there still could be rolling blackouts while the grid stabilizes, Volz added. And many want to keep generators in case of future problems.

Caterpillar says it has an emergency response team that is ready to help its customers, which is battle hardened by the California energy crisis and Sept. 11.

Then there are other on-site power producers, which use alternative power sources, such as fuel cell technology, solar power and wind power. And publicly traded companies that are developing these up-and-coming technologies have seen their shares rise across the board in the past day and a half, said Young Jin, energy technology analyst with Reed Global Advisors in Bellevue, Wash.

However, most of these alternative technologies are at least five years away from commercialization, Jin said. Therefore the stocks will inevitably retreat to their pre-blackout levels, he said.

A spokesman for General Electric, which like Caterpillar produces modules, said the latest theory is that the blackout was caused by a "transmission or distribution" problem, and not a load capacity. The company did say that if it was a shortage of power, it would have meant the company would have been able to offer its modules, which are much like Caterpillar Inc. However, the company can help here, too, with software.