17th Aug 2026|Written by Sam Dexter
Keeping the lights on through rural Devon power cuts
Power cuts are a fact of life in rural Britain. Overhead lines run for miles across open countryside, exposed to high winds, falling branches and winter storms, and repair crews have much further to travel to reach a fault. A village outage that would be fixed in minutes in a city can stretch into hours.
A homeowner near Newton Abbot in Devon had been living with exactly that. His property was suffering frequent outages, with no way of knowing how long each one would last.
He came to us for a generator capable of backing up his entire home, rather than just a handful of circuits. We supplied a brand new Cummins C33D5-1P: a 28 kVA single phase generator that will carry the whole house whenever the mains supply fails.
The equipment supplied
We supplied a single Cummins C33D5-1P diesel generator, a 230V single phase set housed in a weatherproof acoustic canopy.
Specification:
- Model: Cummins C33D5-1P
- Standby rating: 28 kVA / 28 kW
- Prime rating: 25 kVA / 25 kW
- Output: 230V single phase, 50Hz at 1500rpm, 118 amps
- Engine: Cummins X3.3-G1
- Alternator: Stamford S1L2-K1
- Controller: Cummins PowerStart 0600
- Fuel tank: 175 litres, giving up to 23 hours at 100% prime-rated load
- Build: silent (canopied) - 77 dB(A) at 1m
- Footprint: 2253mm x 969mm x 1619mm, 1127kg wet
- Application: standby power for a private residence
Why single phase suits home backup power
Almost every home is fed by a 230V single phase supply, so a three phase generator is simply the wrong shape for the job. The C33D5-1P is the single phase version of the Cummins C33D5, delivering its full output at 230V through a 2-pole circuit breaker.
At 28 kVA standby there is ample capacity for a whole house: heating and hot water, the cooker and kitchen appliances, lighting, freezers, broadband and home office equipment, and EV charging. Country properties also carry loads that town houses do not, such as borehole pumps, septic treatment plants and stable or outbuilding supplies. Those are often the things missed most when the power goes.
Built to ride out a long outage
A standby generator waits in reserve and takes the load the moment the grid drops out. The 175-litre base tank holds enough fuel for roughly 23 hours at full prime load, and a house draws nowhere near that, so in practice a single tank will see out a long rural outage with room to spare.
The canopy keeps the British weather out and holds noise to 77 dB(A) at one metre, which matters when a set sits in a garden or yard rather than a plant room. The PowerStart 0600 controller supports automatic mains failure (AMF) operation and remote start, with digital metering, fault logging and service reminders built in. Being brand new, the set is backed by Cummins' standard manufacturer warranty of 2 years or 500 hours (whichever comes first) for standby applications.
Why customers choose Global Generators
- Authorised Cummins CPG reseller - the UK's best pricing on Cummins diesel generators, backed by our Best UK Cummins Diesel Generator Prices guarantee
- A leading stockist - a wide range of generators held in our own physical inventory, so a set can be with you quickly rather than waiting on a factory build slot
- Over 50 years of combined experience - we size the set around the loads a property genuinely draws, so you only pay for the capacity you need
- Immediate collection, fast UK delivery or global export available - in this case the unit was available immediately from stock, so the customer collected it from Doncaster with his own trailer
Need backup power for your home or rural property?
Farmhouse, cottage, smallholding, equestrian yard or a family home at the end of a long overhead line: if power cuts are a regular event where you live, our team will help you choose the right diesel generator to keep your home running. We supply from our headquarters in Doncaster, UK, with fast nationwide delivery from stock and worldwide export available.
Talk to our power generation experts today. Call us, message us on WhatsApp, or send us an email, and we will be happy to assist.

