Rule 515-12-1-.39 - Universal Access Fund(1)Quarterly Contributions. All telecommunications companies holding a certificate of authority issued by the Commission to provide services within Georgia shall contribute quarterly to the Universal Access Fund. The contribution is calculated by multiplying a company's gross intrastate revenues from the provision of telecommunications services to end users by a factor set by order of the Commission.(2)Universal Access Fund Surcharge. A telecommunications company holding a certificate of authority issued by the Commission may add a surcharge to customer bills after filing a letter providing notice to the Commission of its intent to do so. Customers shall be given at least 30 days' notice prior to implementation of the surcharge. The surcharge shall appear on customer bills as "Georgia Universal Access Fund Surcharge." If the number of characters in "Georgia Universal Access Fund Surcharge" exceeds the number of characters allowed in the company's billing software or if the full text will not fit on one line, "Georgia UAF Surcharge" or "GA UAF Surcharge" may be used instead. (3)Quarterly Reports and Remission of Funds. Each telecommunications company that is required to contribute to the Universal Access Fund shall submit quarterly via email a report to the Commission Staff calculating the required contribution for each quarter. The report shall be submitted to the Staff and the contribution shall be remitted to the fund designated for the Universal Access Fund no later than the thirtieth calendar day following the close of each quarter.(4)Applications for Distributions from the Universal Access Fund. The Commission shall determine any such distributions upon application, demonstration, and good cause shown that the reasonable actual costs to provide basic local exchange services exceed the maximum fixed price permitted for such basic local exchange services. Costs shall be determined based on the most recent commission-approved rate of return and the statutory state and federal income tax rates in effect for the application period. Applications for distributions from the Universal Access Fund shall be limited to local exchange carriers subject to rate of return regulation. (a)Filing Deadline. Applications shall be filed no later than December 15 of each year.(b)General Filing Requirements. Applications shall be made based on losses incurred from July 1 of the prior year through June 30 of the filing year, excluding non-regulated costs, and shall include the following:1. Publicly-disclosed earnings report (Tab 1) in fully-functional Excel format2. Publicly-disclosed Form M (Tab 2) in word-searchable format3. Separations-based cost study (Tab 3)4. Cost study workpapers (Tab 4)5. Subjective support for regulated and non-regulated costs (Tab 5)6. Information related to affiliated transactions (Tab 6)(c)Enhanced Filing Requirements.1. Trial Balance reports for June 30 of the preceding year, December 31 of the preceding year and June 30 of the filing year (these trial balances may be redacted as needed to remove names and CPNI information).2. The most recent un-redacted audited financial reports with accompanying notes for each company and its parent company (if applicable).3. Identification of the depreciation rates applicable to each plant account during the fiscal year.4. A copy of the company's current Cost Allocation Manual or equivalent documentation that identifies the company's organizational structure and procedures for segregating costs between regulated and nonregulated operations.5. Documents demonstrating that basic residential local rates are set at the top of the limits allowed by the GPSC or that foregone revenues are imputed.6. All information necessary to demonstrate that grant funded assets and related expenses are excluded from the UAF request.(d)Executive Compensation and Corporate Operations Expense. Allowable costs for executive compensation and/or corporate operations expense shall be constrained based upon the greater disallowance calculated based upon the following limits:1. Executive Costs (USOA Account 6711 or 6710 as indicated by company accounting practice) shall be limited to the lesser of actual cost or $200,000 plus $78 times the number of access lines reported on Form 5322 as of December 31 of the preceding year.2. The overall corporate operations expenses (USOA accounts 6711 through 6728 or 6710 and 6720 as indicated by company accounting practice) shall be equal to the lesser of the average monthly per loop corporate operations expense cap provisions of Sections 36.621(a)(4)(i) and 36.621(a)(4)(ii) of the FCC's rules and regulations (USF Corporate Operations Expense capping mechanism as of December 31, 2010) times the number of access lines reported on Federal USF cost reporting (Data Line 070, total loops) as of December 31 of the preceding year and annualized.(e)Reactive Engagements. Each application for reimbursement from the Universal Access Fund will undergo a reactive engagement conducted by a contractor chosen by the Commission. The procedures employed by the contractor will be determined by the Commission. The cost of the reactive engagement will be borne by the party that filed the application. At the conclusion of the reactive engagement, the Staff will file a report containing the findings, if any, of the contractor.(f)Hearing Requests. Any interested party may file a request for a hearing on any individual application within 14 calendar days of the date of filing of the Reactive Engagement report.Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 515-12-1-.39
O.C.G.A. §§ 46-2-20, 46-5-167.
Original Rule entitled "Universal Access Fund" adopted. F. Jan. 26, 2023; eff. Feb. 15, 2023.