Section 160.09. High rate assistance credits.

 

(1)  In this section, "median household income" means the estimated median household income per county published annually by the U.S. census bureau's small area income and poverty estimate program.

(1g)  A full ETC shall provide high rate assistance credits to residential customers when the price of service exceeds levels set in this section.

(1r)  A full ETC shall recalculate credits under this section whenever the fixed monthly charge for essential telecommunications service, as defined in s. PSC 160.03 (2) , is changed, or when ordered to do so by the commission. If the recalculation results in a de minimis change, the ETC may request that the administrator of the division of business and communications services stay the requirement to increase or decrease the credit.

(2)  Full eligible telecommunications carriers shall calculate credits as specified in sub. (4) utilizing the price of service determined under sub. (3) .

(3)  For purposes of calculating credits under sub. (4) :

(a) If a full ETC offers essential services on a stand-alone basis, the price of service calculated under this paragraph for its stand-alone essential services shall be considered the price of service when calculating credits for all of the ETC's offerings, whether provided on a stand-alone basis or as part of a bundle. The price of service for stand-alone essential services that is used to calculate credits under sub. (4) shall include all of the following charges and fees:

1. The in-state charges and fees for residential stand-alone essential services, including, as applicable, all of the following:

a. Police and fire protection fee.

b. State universal service fund assessment.

c. Remainder assessment.

d. Telecommunications utility trade practices assessment.

e. Federal universal service fund assessment.

2. Any 9-1-1 charges billed on the telephone bill.

3. The federal subscriber line charge.

4. The access recovery charge.

5. The charge, if any, for 120 local calls, excluding extended community calling calls.

6. The federal communications commission authorized charge for implementation of local number portability.

7. Other charges as approved by the commission.

(b) The price of service for residential stand-alone essential services does not include charges for items and services such as:

1. Data service.

2. Handsets, modems, or other customer premises equipment.

3. Caller identification.

4. Call waiting.

5. Texting.

6. Voicemail.

(c) If a full ETC only offers essential services bundled with other services, and not on a stand-alone basis, the price of service used to calculate credits under sub. (4) shall be the charges and fees for the service, minus the charge for optional items or services such as the following:

1. Handsets, modems, or other customer premises equipment.

2. Caller identification.

3. Call waiting.

4. Texting.

5. Voicemail.

(d) If a full ETC's charge for bundled service includes a charge for data service, it is rebuttably presumed that that the ETC's customers are not eligible for high rate assistance for that bundled service. The ETC may rebut this presumption by showing that the charge for the bundled service minus the cost of providing data service totals an amount high enough to qualify the customer for high rate assistance. The commission may, upon complaint or if it has a reasonable basis to believe that a credit should be applied when it is not, require the ETC to provide the relevant cost information.

(4)  Full eligible telecommunications carriers shall issue high rate assistance credits according to the following criteria:

(a) For the portion of the price of service below 1.2% of median household income, per month, for the area in which the rate applies, no credits apply.

(b) For the portion of the price of service equal to or above 1.2% but below 1.7% of median household income, per month, for the area in which the rate applies, a credit equal to 50% of that amount.

(c) For the portion of the price of service equal to or above 1.7% but below 2.2% of median household income, per month, for the area in which the rate applies, a credit equal to 75% of that amount.

(d) For the portion of the price of service equal to or above 2.2% but below 2.7% of median household income, per month, for the area in which the rate applies, a credit equal to 85% of that amount.

(e) For the portion of the price of service equal to or above 2.7% of median household income, per month, for the area in which the rate applies, a credit equal to 95% of that amount.

(f) When a rate applies in only one county, the median household income used to calculate the credit shall be that of that county in which the rate applies. When a rate applies in more than one county, the median household income used to compute the credit shall be the average of the median household incomes in each county in which the rate applies, weighted by the number of customers paying that rate in each county.

(g) If the amount of money required to reimburse full ETCs for credits under this section exceeds the amount budgeted for this program under s. PSC 160.17 , the commission may modify the formula for high rate assistance credits.

(5)  Except as provided in sub. (9) , each full ETC may be reimbursed by the universal service fund for the value of the credits it issues if it files its reimbursement claims with the fund administrator by April 1 of the year following the year during which it issued the credit. The full ETC may obtain an extension of the filing deadline from commission staff for good cause.

(6)  When a full ETC charges a pro-rated portion of the normal monthly charge for service because the customer has had service for only a portion of the month, the rate assistance credit for that customer shall be pro-rated by the same percentage.

(7)  A full ETC shall show and identify the high rate assistance credits on bills issued to customers.

(9)  Full ETCs may not be reimbursed by the universal service fund for the value of credits issued to customers receiving essential telecommunications service under a contract if the contract has a duration of greater than one year. The commission may grant waivers of this subsection by order. This subsection does not apply to rural line extension contracts entered into before January 1, 1996.

Cr. Register, April, 1996, No. 484 , eff. 5-1-96; am. (1), (8) and (9), r. (2) (a), (b), (3) (f), (h) and (6), renum. (2) (c) to be (2) and am. (2), renum. (3) (a) to (e) to be (4) (a) to (e) and am. (4) (a) to (e), renum. (3) (g) to (4) (f) and am. (4) (f), renum. (3) (i) and (5) to be (4) (g) and (6), renum. (4) to be (5) and am. (5), renum. (8) to be (9) and am. (9), cr. (3), Register, April, 2000, No. 532 , eff. 5-1-00; CR 13-068 : renum. (1) to (1g) and am., cr. (1), (1r), am. (2), r. and recr. (3), am. (4) to (7), r. (8), am. (9) Register January 2016 No. 721 , eff. 2-1-16.

Note

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