Calabasas lost phone, internet and 911 in a shutoff. Plan for winter.
HoldBackup · Issue 3 · November 3, 2026
Disclosure: One store link in this email is an Amazon affiliate link, marked "paid link." If you buy through it, HoldBackup may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, HoldBackup earns from qualifying purchases. HoldBackup has not lab-tested any product here. Product numbers come from the maker's published specs, and outage numbers come from the sources cited below.
Last Wednesday, residents of Calabasas and Malibu told their city council what a three-day power shutoff in October cost them. The lights went out, and phone, internet, and 911 went with them. Wind season is winding down, and forecasters favor a wet winter next. This issue covers what happened, what a home battery can keep on, and a 15-minute check to do this week.
The Signal
On the night of Wednesday, October 28, Calabasas and Malibu residents went to the Calabasas City Council meeting to talk about repeated Public Safety Power Shutoffs from Southern California Edison (SCE). For three days in mid-October, as Santa Ana winds fueled the Bryson Fire in Malibu, SCE customers in both communities were, in CBS Los Angeles's words, "literally and figuratively left in the dark" (CBS LA).
- Resident Jamie Camp: "No service whatsoever. Cell phone, phone, internet. Everything."
- Residents said the shutoff cut them off from phone and internet service, including the ability to call 911 and to get evacuation alerts. They said it happens over and over through the year.
- Council member Alicia Weintraub: "We can't live in a place where the power goes off every time it's windy." She is pushing for alternatives such as neighborhood generators.
- SCE said "safety must come first" and pointed to its work in Calabasas to install covered conductor and move power lines underground.
Council staff said they would assess backup power for traffic signals and contact telecom providers. No formal vote was recorded (meeting summary).
What comes next is rain. Axios reported on November 2 that NOAA's latest outlook favors wetter-than-normal conditions across California, the Southwest, and much of the southern U.S. as a powerful El Niño builds. Axios added a caution: "Even a very strong El Niño doesn't guarantee specific weather impacts" (Axios). On September 21, Gov. Newsom declared a statewide emergency to prepare, and state officials have warned of heavy rain, strong winds, flooding, landslides, and power outages (EnergySage).
For now it's quiet. On the morning of November 3, SCE's PSPS page showed 0 customers in a shutoff and 0 under consideration (SCE). PG&E's seven-day forecast showed no counties at risk through November 8. The Halloween weekend storm brought rain and flood advisories to Ventura, Orange, and San Diego counties, with no major flash floods or mudslides reported (LA Times). A quiet week is the time to plan.
What a battery can keep on. Look again at what Calabasas lost: phones, internet, 911, and alerts. A UPS or power station at home can keep your own modem, router, and fiber box (ONT) powered. It cannot keep your provider's network or the nearest cell tower running. HoldBackup's router guide says so plainly: in a long, widespread outage, the connection can drop even while your router stays lit. So the plan has two parts:
- Keep your own gear powered for hours to days: the fridge, a few lights, the Wi-Fi box, and phone charging.
- Keep one way to hear alerts that needs no internet, such as a battery or hand-crank NOAA weather radio.
The Pick covers part one.
The Pick: EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max
Sold as: EF ECOFLOW Portable Power Station DELTA 2 Max 2048Wh, 2400W LiFePO4 Battery
HoldBackup's 2000Wh home-essentials guide calls this class, about 2,000 Wh with a 2,400 W inverter, the sweet spot for keeping a refrigerator, lights, and internet gear running through a normal outage. It runs indoors with no fuel and no exhaust. The DELTA 2 Max is the one listing the guide links for comparison. The guide does not review it as a pick, so check it against the spec list below before you buy. HoldBackup has not lab-tested it.
Maker numbers from the listing:
- 2,048 Wh capacity
- 2,400 W inverter
- LiFePO4 cells, which the guide notes are rated for far more charge cycles than older lithium chemistries. That matters for a unit that sits on standby for years.
The guide lists what to confirm on the maker's spec sheet:
- Continuous watts, surge watts, and how long the surge is sustained
- Rated cycles and the warranty term in years
- AC outlet count and spacing, and whether the inverter is pure sine wave
- Wall recharge time and solar input limits
- Switchover time, if you want it to act as a UPS for a computer
The guide shows how to work out runtime from your own load. Its example: a fridge averaging 60 W over a day of cycling, plus 25 W for lights and the router, comes to 85 W. Divide roughly 2,000 Wh by your own total, trim the result for inverter losses, and then read the maker's runtime chart at that load.
Fits when
- Your list is short: a fridge or chest freezer, LED lights, Wi-Fi gear, fans, laptops, and phones
- You want power indoors with no fuel, fumes, or noise
- Your fridge's startup surge and running watts fit under the inverter's surge and continuous ratings
- You can refill it from the wall when power returns, or from solar panels
Falls short when
- The load is central air, electric water heating, electric cooking, a well pump, or anything hardwired
- Your outages regularly run more than a day or two and you have no solar panels. In the guide's words, the battery "will run dry and stay dry."
- You want backup at the breaker panel. Never backfeed house wiring from a power station. Panel backup needs a transfer switch or interlock installed by a licensed electrician.
- Your provider's network or the cell tower goes down. The station keeps your gear on, and the connection still depends on them.
Store link (Amazon sets the price, and it changes):
The full guide covers sizing with your own numbers, the specs to check, safe setup, and when a generator makes more sense: A 2000Wh Portable Power Station for Home Essentials
The Check: 15 minutes before the storms
Do this while the power is on.
- List what must stay on. The fridge, a few lights, the modem, the router, the ONT if you have fiber, and phone chargers. Everything else can wait.
- Add up the watts. Read the label on each device and the nameplate inside the fridge door or on its back. Write the total on a card. Label numbers are a ceiling. A plug-in watt meter on the fridge for 24 hours gives the average worth planning around.
- Check your address and sign up for alerts. SCE customers can use the SCE PSPS page. PG&E customers can use pge.com/pspsupdates. Sign up for your utility's shutoff alerts while you're there.
- Write a charge plan. Charge any power station or UPS to full when a storm is forecast, and keep phones topped up. Write down how you'll refill a station: wall power when it returns, or solar.
- Set up one way to hear alerts without the internet. A battery or hand-crank NOAA weather radio works. Keep it where you can find it in the dark.
One more guide: keep the Wi-Fi box on
The router guide maps the full power path for your connection: what a modem and router draw, how to read a maker's runtime chart at your load, and a worked example with a modem, router, ONT, and switch. Its section "When the outage takes your provider down too" covers the fallback when the connection drops: a phone hotspot, if cell service is still up. A UPS for your router and modem
Browse every guide (UPS units, power stations, and generators) at holdbackup.com.
Disclosure: The store link marked "paid link" goes to Amazon with HoldBackup's affiliate tag. If you buy through it, HoldBackup may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, HoldBackup earns from qualifying purchases. HoldBackup has not lab-tested these products. Specs are the maker's published figures. Full disclosure.
Sources: CBS Los Angeles, Oct 28, 2026 · Calabasas City Council meeting summary · Axios, Nov 2, 2026 · EnergySage · SCE PSPS page · LA Times, Nov 2, 2026 · EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max product page
HoldBackup Team