Unconditional power ON is fine, I think most people might not prefer that though. Does your TV, PC or some other device automatically turn ON when plugged in? Maybe a router or simple device would, but not a PC for instance. I think for that reason the stock firmware will stay as is and will require user intervention to power back on.
The LiPo backup provides a means to keep it ON and it's only limited by the LiPo capacity. An external UPS will further limit the case where it reaches power off.
Inherently the design was made so that the MHat keeps going, and only shuts off if the backup power is depleted, which I've never encoutered since I use mine, and I only have the 1 LiPo backup attached to it without external UPS. I also live in Michigan, just east of you I believe
But the change to power ON when 328 starts is pretty easy (not tested pseudo code):
Add this code at the end of setup:
PowerState = ON;
POWER(PowerState);