Idaho PUC Eyes USF Revamp After Doubling Fees
The Idaho Public Utilities Commission wants to revamp the state USF after more than doubling monthly surcharges for residential and business lines in a Tuesday order, the Idaho PUC said in a news release. Effective Sept. 1, the PUC increased…
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the fee for each residential landline to 25 cents from 12 cents and business lines to 44 cents from 20 cents. It also increased the per-minute fee for intrastate long-distance calls to 0.9 cent from 0.5 cent. Idaho USF revenue declined to $1.29 million this year from $2 million in 2015, but the fund distributed about $1.7 million every year since 2013, the PUC said. The fund wouldn’t have met its obligations this year without the increase in fees, it said. Fearing the increase will exacerbate landline abandonment and make the USF unsustainable, the PUC opened a generic docket to overhaul the fund, it said. “We … find it prudent and necessary to take a hard look at the sustainability and viability of the IUSF,” the PUC said in the order, citing a 10 percent decline in local residential lines and a 37 percent decline in local business lines and Message Telecommunications Service/Wide Area Telecommunications Service (MTS/WATS) billed minutes. “The continued popularity and growth of wireless, cellular and VoIP services in Idaho are actively contributing to this decline and these trends do not appear to be changing,” it said. Idaho PUC President Paul Kjellander said Wednesday: "Our immediate concern is addressing a program that is funded through a declining business model.” The PUC is "asking the industry and any other interested parties to come together and look at a solution related to the immediate problem.” Proposals in other states to assess VoIP or wireless services “would require legislative action” in Idaho, he said.