Sen. Tim Shelton, D-Potlatch, introduced a bill on Thursday creating the Office of Broadband Access and a task force to study issues including pole-attachment charges levied by public and municipal utilities.
The bill would help public utilities to develop policies to better cover their costs of hookups and limit the amount public utilities could charge to for-profit companies when adding equipment to utility poles.
“We need to proceed with caution,” Shelton said in a press release. “We should not require public utilities to charge a rate that does not cover their costs and would force them to raise rates to consumers.”
This bill is countering another bill introduced earlier in the year that limited the amount public utility providers can charge. That bill was supported by broadband companies.
This year lawmakers are looking for ways to encourage private broadband companies to develop 5G networks. In most cases, these networks are installed and maintained by private companies, but providers generally have to use existing utility poles.
Private utilities are strictly limited in the amount they may charge for pole attachments, under a cost-recovery scheme devised by the Utilities and Transportation Commission. But public and municipal utilities are not regulated by the UTC, and are allowed to determine for themselves how to calculate their costs.
Broadband companies testified to the Senate Energy, Environment and Telecommunications Committee that they pay around $9 per hookup on a private pole. On a public pole they pay around $30.
The Office of Broadband Access would work with public utility providers to create policies to suit their individual needs. It also will address underserved areas.
©2017 The Chronicle (Centralia, Wash.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
