CPUC Requires 72 Hours Backup Power at Many Cellsites

Commissioners voted 5-0 to give wireless providers 12 months to deploy generators capable of 72-hour backup power in tiers 2 and 3 high-fire-threat districts. Counties hit hard by 2019 wildfires supported replacing batteries that last hours with generators that last days (see 2006170049). Commissioners didn’t respond to some wireless carriers' warnings that the proposal may exceed the body’s legal authority (see 2007020038).

“Losing a critical lifeline during these ever-increasing times of emergency is not acceptable,” said CPUC President Marybel Batjer. “It is dangerous and distressing for the public, and it cripples the effort of the emergency responders to coordinate disaster response and evacuation.” Telecom companies must do better than they have historically, said Commissioner Cliff Rechtschaffen: “It’s not just the energy utilities that have to prepare for wildfires.” The order is critical since most emergency calls are made wirelessly, said Commissioner Genevieve Shiroma.

The resiliency order’s requirements are “a real basic threshold of what we expect” from wireless companies, said Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves. She and Commissioner Liane Randolph applauded the order for not discounting the need for data service in emergencies. "Simply calling and texting is not enough,” said Randolph: Access to government, utility websites and maps is "really important in an emergency.”

The CPUC allowed diesel-based generators for now but encouraged moving to green fuels. Diesel is “not our long-term objective or strategy,” given environmental concerns, stressed Rechtschaffen: renewable is “the path we expect and anticipate.” Other commissioners agreed, noting the agency has a workshop next month on transitioning from diesel.

Rural counties applauded the backup power decision. “We need the telecoms to ensure that their facilities have high resiliency,” Rural County Representatives of California Legislative Advocate John Kennedy told us after the meeting. "We just saw way too many sites go down” during last year’s power shutoffs, compromising some efforts to respond to emergency calls and issue evacuation orders, he said. The CPUC declined RCRC’s suggestion to expand the order to tier 1 facilities that lost power in two or more shutoffs, but Kennedy praised a revision to the proposed decision requiring carriers to state mitigation plans for coverage loss in areas where they claim 72-hour backup is infeasible.

AT&T agrees with the CPUC on "the importance of keeping customers and first responders connected during emergencies, including power shutoffs," so the carrier has "a three-year, $340 million plan to add back up power to more cell sites," a spokesperson emailed. AT&T projects that will provide 72 hours at cellsites covering 99% of the state's population. CTIA didn't comment.

“Californians must be able to call 911 and loved ones during emergency situations, especially now that fire season is upon us,” said CPUC Public Advocates Office Director Elizabeth Echols in a statement. “We will continue to advocate for holding wireless and wireline communications providers accountable so that all Californians’ are safe and protected during emergencies.”

"While country folks generally don't want too much regulation or government in our lives, we need public agencies to step up and ensure that our basic needs are met," said Access Humboldt Executive Director Sean Taketa McLaughlin. "Asserting State regulatory oversight where the mobile data marketplace has failed us is essential and the CPUC made an important step in that direction today." The decision “relies on a thorough legal analysis demonstrating that states have the authority to require wireless providers to operate networks that are reliable and adequate to support the services necessary for public safety,” said The Utility Reform Network Telecommunications Policy Director Regina Costa. TURN expects the CPUC to next tackle wireline resiliency and later renewable backup power, she said.

The CPUC cleared a utility affordability order including broadband despite warnings last year from AT&T and cable to stay away from the internet (see 1909230048). COVID-19 underscored that telecom is an essential utility and "part of telecommunications must be good quality internet service,” which doesn’t mean “just any connection,” Rechtschaffen said at the meeting.

The commission should increase the internet standard, as 25/3 Mbps reflects the “pre-COVID necessity,” said Guzman Aceves, who otherwise supported the proposal. “When the kids are in Zoom school [and] my husband and I are working at home, we have four devices on the internet and 25/3 is insufficient.”

The California Cable and Telecommunications Association is fine with 25/3 Mbps, President Carolyn McIntyre emailed after the meeting.