Minnesota PUC Doubles Low-Income Phone Credit, Raising TAP Surcharge

around the program. The Minnesota Office of Attorney General proposed a higher fee and increased outreach to improve lagging program participation (see 1812050022). Increasing outreach without raising the credit wouldn’t likely much affect participation, PUC Chair Nancy Lange (D) said at the livestreamed meeting, her final before she departs the agency. “We’ve tried a lot of different things, maybe we haven’t tried enough, and it seems like the last, most logical tool in the toolbox is increase the credit.” Supporting the $7 credit, Commissioner Dan Lipschultz (D) wants to “go as high as we can go” under statutory limits. “See what happens, and that will be instructive for the legislature,” he said. “If they see very little impact, then we know we need to do other things,” such as review whether TAP should support wireless or broadband, he said. Commissioner Katie Sieben (D) opposed the increase, saying that “we’re trying to reach a larger pool of low-income customers, and to do that, we’re essentially increasing their telephone fee.” Seven cents more “may not sound like a whole lot on the surface,” said Minnesota Telecom Alliance CEO Brent Christensen: “But when you put it together with everything else” on the bill including USF charges, “you’re talking about significant increases.”