A system is provided for suppressing transient currents in electrical circuits to prevent damage to switching devices such as relays and/or solid-state switching devices. An associated automatic transfer switch (ATS) system (300) includes a primary power cord terminating in cord cap (302) for receiving power from a primary power source and a secondary power cord terminating in cord cap (304) for receiving power from a secondary power source. The system (300) further includes an output (306) for connecting to an output load such as a piece of electronic equipment. The output (306) may be a female outlet such that the system (300) can be directly connected to a male power port of a piece of equipment. The system (300) further includes a micro-ATS module (308) operative to sense a power outage or degradation of signal quality for the power signal of at least the primary power source and, in response, to switch the power supply from the primary source to the secondary power source. A surge suppression circuit (310) is interposed in the secondary power cord between the module (308) and the cord cap (304).