Generator rental software
Bill the hours it ran, straight from the meter.
Generators, light towers, distro and fuel tanks book like any rental. Drivers record the hour meter and fuel at delivery, service and pickup, and PortaPro bills the hours past what the rent includes and the fuel you put in.
Power inventory
Every generator carries its spec sheet.
Pick Power as the product category and choose the type: portable, towable or prime power generators, light towers, distribution panels, cable and fuel tanks. Each generator gets its own unit code, and jobs and quotes book it like any rental.
- Ratings
- Prime and standby kW on a generator, one kW rating on a light tower.
- Fuel and tank
- Diesel, gasoline, propane, natural gas, bi-fuel or battery, and the tank size in gallons.
- Voltage and phase
- For example 120/208V, single-phase or 3-phase.
- Burn rate
- Gallons per hour at 50%, 75% and 100% load, which the refuel estimate uses.
- Finding one
- kW and Fuel filters on the Inventory page and in the job wizard. Every fact is yours to enter; PortaPro never guesses one.
Meter readings
Meter out, every visit, meter in.
With Meter readings set to Required at delivery and pickup, where a new generator starts, the driver app asks for the hour meter and fuel level on every unit the job carries.
Delivery
Meter out
The driver types the hour meter and fuel level and can add a photo of the meter. The unit's last reading sits on the same row, so a typo stands out, and an hour meter lower than the last one is refused unless the driver ticks Meter was replaced.Service visit
Hours settle as the rental goes
Each visit's reading settles the hours run so far and charges only what earlier visits didn't. Fuel the driver puts in is entered with the level after fueling, and it bills from that visit.Pickup
Meter in
The last reading closes the rental's hours. Shift pricing settles here, and with Bill the top-up at return on, so do the gallons that bring the tank back to its delivery level.No signal
Saved to the phone
A reading taken with no signal, photo included, waits on the phone and goes up when the connection returns, with the time it was actually taken.In the office
Every reading on the unit
The unit's Meters & service tab shows the latest hour meter, the hours run across the readings, and every reading with when, where and who. Office staff record a reading taken in the yard and remove a wrong one, which stays in the record marked removed.
Runtime billing
Hours past the rent bill themselves.
The rent includes running hours, pooled across the whole rental: 8 a day, 40 a week and 160 per 4 weeks by default. Hours past them bill at a flat rate per extra hour, as a fraction of the rental rate, or as a double or triple shift. Two weeks at $600 a week, out at 1,240 hours and in at 1,350, is 30 hours over the 80 included: $300.00 at $10.00 an hour.
- Hours from the meter, never the invoice dates
- No partial periods
- Each rental keeps its own terms
Fuel
Fuel bills by the gallon, with your delivery fee.
Bill your cost plus a markup or a fixed price per gallon, with a price for each fuel you sell and a fuel delivery fee for each visit that puts fuel in. Customers see the price per gallon; your cost stays with the office.
Fuel added on a visit bills from that visit: 45 gallons at $4.50 is $202.50, plus the visit fee. Turn on Bill the top-up at return and a unit that comes back lower than it went out bills the gallons to bring it back.
Standby rentals
Price the backup generator below prime power.
Give the generator a standby rent as a percent of the prime rent, the running hours a standby unit includes each week (4 by default, for tests and outages), and a rate for the hours past them.
Book the rental as usual, then switch it to Standby (backup) on its delivery job. The rent reprices to the standby percent and the invoice line says so, for example Standby rate, 60% of the prime rent. Switch it back to Prime power and the prime price returns.
Fuel and service
Know which unit needs fuel next, and which is due for service.
Inventory, Generators lists every unit out on rent with a fuel reading, and every service due or due soon. The fuel numbers are estimates, and they say so.
- Needs fuel by
- The day each unit reaches your refuel level, from the fuel drop between readings, else the hours run times the burn rate, beside the next visit already booked at the site.
- Book refuel
- Books an unassigned visit on that day, tied to the rental, so the fuel the driver puts in bills from it.
- Each morning
- At 7 AM on your company's clock: off, a notification listing what needs fuel, or refuel visits booked for you.
- Service by hours
- Every so many hours, days or both, whichever comes first, set per product. Start with oil, filters and a load bank test fills in a common set.
- Service due
- Due and due-soon services show on the board and on the unit, the office is notified once per service, and Record service logs it at the latest hour meter.
Controller readings
Readings from the generator's own telematics.
If your generators report through a telematics provider with an AEMP 2.0 (ISO 15143-3) feed, such as Trackunit or an OEM fleet portal, PortaPro pulls each machine's hour meter and fuel level every 30 minutes and matches machines to your units by serial number, then unit code.
Those readings keep the fuel estimates and service due current between visits. Runtime still bills from the drivers' delivery and pickup readings, and PortaPro only reads the feed. It never sends anything to a generator.
Questions generator rental companies ask
How are runtime hours billed on a long rental?
Every service visit's hour meter reading settles the hours run so far, and each settlement charges only what earlier ones didn't. Runtime bills as the rental goes instead of all at the end, and customers on cycle billing see it on their next cycle invoice.
What if a generator's hour meter is replaced?
A reading lower than the unit's last one is refused, so a typo can't undo hours. The driver checks the meter, or ticks Meter was replaced if it was swapped or reset, and runtime starts again from the new meter.
Can the readings come from the generator itself?
Yes, through a telematics provider with an AEMP 2.0 (ISO 15143-3) feed: the hour meter and fuel level every 30 minutes, read only. A controller maker's own API isn't supported, and the reader was built from the standard, so check the first pull against your provider's portal. Runtime still bills from the drivers' readings.
Can I quote a generator as a standby rental?
Not as standby yet. Quote and book the rental as usual, then switch it to Standby (backup) on its delivery job after booking. On the quote itself, price the line by hand.
Are delivery, environmental or damage-waiver fees added for me?
Not automatically. Add them as lines on the job or quote. Fuel delivery is the one fee PortaPro adds on its own: the fuel delivery fee per visit is charged once on each visit that puts fuel in. A fuel tank rented with a generator goes on the job as its own line.
Which plan includes generators and power?
Generators and power are on the Growth plan and Enterprise. Every PortaPro plan includes unlimited users, units and customers.
