BELLEVUE, Wash. — September 9, 2022 — This week, T-Mobile has responded to California’s call for help to prevent rolling blackouts during an unprecedented heatwave. The Un-carrier’s priority is keeping the network running for customers, first responders and local officials, but we are also doing our part to reduce power consumption to help the state’s energy grid during critical times like these.
Beginning Monday, September 5, we took steps to decrease use of our commercial power by moving two of our mobile switching sites onto generator power during designated Flex Alert hours. These permanent back-up generators, which are used during emergencies and natural disasters to keep T-Mobile’s network running, are closely monitored and controlled by on-site engineers as well as through T-Mobile’s National Operations Center. We continue to assess the situation in California and how T-Mobile can help.
We also encourage customers and employees to do their part to conserve power, especially during the Flex Alert hours. A few power-saving tips:
- Pre-cool your home, use major appliances and charge devices earlier in the day before Flex Alert hours
- Close window coverings during the day
- Set the thermostat to 78 degrees or higher (as health permits) during Flex Alert hours, avoid using major appliances, turn off unneeded lights, unplug small appliances and use fans for cooling
- Visit https://www.flexalert.org/ for more tips and details
An updated look at current and forecasted energy demand can be found through the California ISO.
As forecasters predicted an unprecedented disaster season in 2022, T-Mobile stood ready to help customers, first responders, communities and state and city officials with massive investments in network resiliency and redundancy. We added thousands of backup generators for tower locations, expanded our emergency response fleet and launched a new collaboration with The Weather Channel. We also continue to work with weather forecasters and Storm Geo to track events, partner with local utilities to notify impacted residents — such as California’s electric utilities to issue customer alerts about Public Safety Power Shutoffs to help reduce the risk of fires caused by electric infrastructure in extreme weather, participate in local preparedness exercises and roll out on-the ground resources to impacted communities during events.
More information on T-Mobile’s emergency response efforts can be found on T-Mobile’s Emergency Response Hub.