Opinion: Don’t let PG&E leave communities in the dark

The California Public Utilities Commission has just approved wildfire mitigation plans for the major energy companies in the state. Forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy by wildfire liability suits, PG&E recently announced a policy that would allow the company in high fire risk times to impose rolling blackouts — shutting off the power to large swaths of its service area for up to five days — in an attempt to prevent storms and high winds from knocking over their power poles and lines and sparking deadly wildfires. However, such policies are not a new concept for utilities. Rolling blackouts already are used by Southern California utilities, who often suffer damage to their power lines from the Santa Ana winds. In coastal regions such as Florida and Texas, utilities power down yearly as hurricanes roar through.

While the increasing reliance on preemptive power outages comes from a place of well-meaning, the trend is dangerous for Americans and small businesses.

While intentional power outages are meant to prevent damage from natural disasters, proactive blackouts may pose its own danger to vulnerable Americans. Prolonged power outages can be disastrous for the elderly, the very young and people with serious medical conditions who rely on electric-powered medical devices or refrigerated medicine. For them, reliable electricity is a vital lifeline. Likewise, small businesses can be devastated; refrigerated inventory can spoil, electronic payment systems can’t be accessed and bookings are canceled.

Utilities now are faced with a significant tension between the need to protect their facilities against nature’s wrath by turning off the power versus the adverse impact a major blackout has on the very communities they serve.

However, days-long power shutdowns do not need to be the only response to wildfire and storm risks. Immediate solutions using advanced technology running on private wireless communications systems already are readily available and could reduce power shutdowns.

Using existing advanced technologies and secure, private wireless communications systems to deploy weather sensors and video cameras through their entire service area, modern utilities can predict high weather risk times by sending data on temperatures, moisture and humidity. The cameras allow a fire to be quickly spotted with precision, so that fire crews can put it out before it becomes a conflagration.

Innovator San Diego Gas & Electric is testing technology that can sense an electric line falling and, in a millisecond, cut electricity to that specific line to prevent it from sparking a fire when it hits the ground. These technology-enabled solutions may reduce the need for intentional power blackouts.

It’s urgent that we get these technology solutions into a utility’s toolbox. But there are many regulatory and funding barriers. State public utility agencies need to streamline current regulatory processes. Funding through the traditional three-year rate making schedule is too slow. Expedited regulatory approval is necessary, and accounting changes may be necessary to ensure that leasing of private wireless spectrum may be included in the rate base. Funding for weather cameras should be shared by state and local emergency services and fire prevention agencies.

The Federal Communications Commission has done its part by issuing a notice of proposed rule making that for the first time will allow utilities access to 900 MHz wireless spectrum. This spectrum will protect their critical information infrastructure from hacking, promote smart grid applications and enable the advanced technology to prevent fires. By year’s end, electric utilities will have the ability to obtain dedicated private wireless spectrum on which these advanced technologies ride.

In the meantime, there is a not a moment to lose to give energy companies advanced technology to fight fires, while protecting vulnerable members of our communities.

Rachelle Chong is a former California PUC and FCC Commissioner. Chong is currently a California lawyer specializing in communications, energy and transportation.