Case No. GNR-T-12-07, Order No. 32637

September 21, 2012

Contact: Gene Fadness (208) 334-0339 office; 890-2712 cell

Surcharge for universal service to increase

A surcharge that helps telephone companies provide service in high-cost rural areas will increase slightly on Oct. 1 as a result of an order signed by the Idaho Public Utilities Commission.

The Idaho Telecommunications Act of 1988 created the Universal Service Fund (USF) to maintain universal availability of local telephone service at reasonable rates in areas where greater distances and fewer customers makes providing service more costly than providing the same service in urban areas.

All telephone companies pay to the fund through a surcharge on customer bills and, in turn, charge their customers a monthly amount set by the commission. Effective Oct. 1, customers with residential lines will pay 15 cents per month, up from 12 cents. Business lines will be assessed 23 cents per line, up from 19 cents. Customers of long distance companies also pay the surcharge. The surcharge for in-state toll calls will increase from $.0035 per minute to $.004 (four-tenths of a cent) per minute.

Idaho Code 62-610A, states that, “all consumers in this state, without regard to their location, should have comparable accessibility to basic telecommunications services at just and reasonable rates.” With assistance from the Universal Service Fund, rural telephone companies are able to keep their rates at no more than 25 percent above rates in more urban areas.

The fund collected $1.65 million through June 30, but payments from the fund to the eight rural telephone companies in Idaho that qualify for assistance total nearly $1.7 million, thus necessitating an increase in the surcharge.

With the increasing use of cell phones, the number of residential and business landlines continues to decrease, which causes the amount paid into USF to decline. As of May 1, telephone companies reported 253,461 Idaho residential landlines, an 8 percent decrease from the previous year. Business lines also decreased by 1 percent to 219,108. Long-distance billed minutes increased by 2 percent. However, that increase is attributed to more accurate reporting by some telephone companies rather an actual increase in long-distance minutes.

The eight telephone companies that qualify for USF disbursements include: Albion Telephone Company, Cambridge Telephone Company, Direct Comm of Rockland, Inland Telephone Company of Roslyn, Wash. (serving Idaho customers in Lenore and Leon), Fremont Telecom, Inc. of St. Anthony; Midvale Telephone Exchange, Rural Telephone Co. of Glenns Ferry and Silver Star Telephone Co. of Freedom Wyo. (serving Idaho customers in the eastern portions of Bonneville and Caribou counties).

A full text of the commission’s order is available on the commission’s Web site at www.puc.idaho.gov. Click on “File Room” and then on “Telecommunications Cases” and scroll down to Case No. GNR-T-12-07. Interested parties may petition the commission for reconsideration by no later than Oct. 2. Petitions for reconsideration must state why the order is unreasonable, unlawful or erroneous. Petitions should include a statement of the nature and quantity of evidence the petitioner will offer if reconsideration is granted.

Petitions can be delivered to the commission at 472 W. Washington St. in Boise, mailed to P.O. Box 83720, Boise, ID, 83720-0074, or faxed to 208-334-3762.