HOW BIG?

WHAT SIZE GENERATOR DO I NEED TO POWER MY HOME?

Every home is slightly different.
As a general guide, a 2-3Kva 230v generator may run the average houses essential items.
Things to consider:
How many people live there?
Gas or electric appliances?
Water pumps?
Want/need to run aircon?
How man fridges/freezers?

There are some good online calculators that will help you work out how much power you will need to run your home, and what size generator you may need.
Honda Power Equipment have a great online tool:
https://powerequipment.honda.com/generators/wattage-calculator
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To find out how much power an appliance uses, look for its data label - somewhere on the back maybe? This should tell you the power consumption of the appliance.
Add all your appliances power usage together to work out how big of a generator you my need to run your home.
Remember, you don't need everything on at once. Some items you maybe able to go without while running your home on a generator, like your hot water unit(it should hold heat for a day or 2, if your wise about hot water use), or your oven and stove(if they are electric). 
Use the BBQ instead of the stove and oven.
Turn on the ceiling fans instead of the air-conditioners. A ceiling fan uses about 70watts ea.
Change your lights to LED - an old incandescent globe uses around 60watts, while a new LED light with the same lighting output could use as little as 10watts!

Items that you will likely NEED to run on backup are items like:

• Rainwater tank pump - to keep water supply!
• Bore pump - maybe you rely on a bore pump to supply water to your house?
• Refrigerators and freezers
• Internet modems - Most home phones will not work when your modem looses power!
• Lights and ceiling fans - you cant plug these items into an extension lead as they are hardwired. The only way to keep the lights on is to have a generator changeover switch and backup power inlet installed by a licence electrician, like GENERATOR SWITCH QLD!