Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 45, November 9, 2024
Section 69.3701 - Computation of Section 510 Annual Fiscal Assessments Related to Revenue from Jurisdictionally-Mixed Telecommunications Services(a) This policy statement provides guidance to all jurisdictional telecommunications public utilities in complying with their statutory obligations under section 510 of the Public Utility Code, 66 Pa.C.S. § 510 (relating to assessment for regulatory expenses upon public utilities).(b) All telecommunications carriers holding Certificates of Public Convenience (CPC) issued under Chapter 11 of the Public Utility Code (Code), 66 Pa.C.S. § § 1101-1103 (relating to organization of public utilities and beginning of service; enumeration of acts requiring certificate; and procedure to obtain certificates of public convenience), are public utilities subject to the Commission's authority under Section 510 of the Code, 66 Pa.C.S. § 510 to impose annual fiscal assessments upon these carriers to cover their "reasonable share" of the costs of administering the Code.(c) Section 510(b) of the Code requires every public utility holding a CPC from the Commission to file, on March 31 of each year, a statement, under oath, showing its gross intrastate operating revenues for the preceding calendar year and to pay to the Commission its proportionate share of the amount assessed to each utility group based on its total gross intrastate operating revenues.(d) All jurisdictional telecommunications public utilities holding Commission-issued CPCs are obligated by section 510 of the Code to file annual fiscal assessment reports with the Commission reporting their gross intrastate operating revenues and to pay to the Commission their proportionate share of the amount assessed to the telecommunications utility group based on each carrier's total gross intrastate operating revenues.(e) All jurisdictional telecommunications public utilities holding Commission-issued CPCs in Pennsylvania provide jurisdictionally mixed-use telecommunications services.(f) Some jurisdictional telecommunications public utilities in Pennsylvania that provide jurisdictionally mixed-use telecommunications services have reported zero gross intrastate operating revenues to the Commission for section 510 annual fiscal assessment purposes for their jurisdictionally mixed-use services.(g) As their legal basis for reporting zero gross intrastate operating revenues related to their jurisdictionally mixed-use services, a majority have referred to the Federal Communications Commission's ten percent contamination rule to justify reporting zero gross intrastate operating revenues to the Commission.(h) The Federal Communications Commission's ten percent contamination rule is set forth at 47 CFR 36.154 (relating to exchange line cable and wire facilities (C&WF)-Category 1-apportionment procedures) and is an administrative jurisdictional separations rule that states that the costs and revenues of a jurisdictionally mixed-use line are directly assigned to the interstate jurisdiction if the mixed-use services carry interstate traffic in a proportion greater than ten percent.(i) The Federal Communications Commission's ten percent contamination rule does not preempt or otherwise preclude the obligation of jurisdictional telecommunications public utilities to report to the Commission's fiscal office their de facto gross intrastate operating revenues related to providing jurisdictionally mixed-use telecommunications services, without regard to any intrastate revenues deemed to be interstate pursuant to the ten percent contamination rule.(j) De facto gross intrastate operating revenues are those gross intrastate operating revenues that are actually received for all telecommunications services and traffic between points that are both located within this Commonwealth, including the traffic traversing a special access circuit that is deemed interstate by the ten percent rule set forth in 47 CFR 36.154.(k) The jurisdictional telecommunications carriers may submit to the Commission's fiscal office supporting information (such as traffic studies, tax returns, jurisdictional allocation formulas and factors, books of account, reports, etc.) on which the carrier bases its revenue determination, so that the fiscal office can ascertain the carrier's de facto gross intrastate operating revenues and compute an accurate assessment in accordance with the metrics and requirements of section 510 of the Code.The provisions of this §69.3701 adopted August 30, 2019, effective 8/31/2019, 49 Pa.B. 5003.