CPUC Plan Gives Wireless Industry Year to Deploy 72-Hour Backup Power
The California Public Utilities Commission has authority to require 72-hours backup power at wireless facilities, CPUC President Marybel Batjer said in a proposed decision Thursday in docket R.18-03-011. Wireless providers would have 12 months from the decision’s effective date to…
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make it so, she said. The proposal would permit diesel generation, but wireless providers must “explore ways to transition to renewable generation for backup power,” it said. The wireless industry resisted a backup power mandate, with some disputing California wireless authority (see 2004060061). The CPUC “has long held that wireless service providers are public utilities,” argued the agency about its wireless jurisdiction. “As the wireless market developed, the Commission and the Courts continued to find and uphold Commission jurisdiction over wireless telecommunications utilities to protect consumers. The Commission’s jurisdiction extends to the facilities wireless carriers rely upon to provision service.” The federal government can't preempt the state's police power over public health and safety, and there can't be a conflict preemption argument without FCC backup power rules, it said. The CPUC may vote on the item as soon as its July 16 meeting, said Chief Administrative Law Judge Anne Simon in a cover page to the proposal. CTIA and the Wireless Infrastructure Association didn’t comment.