The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission denied FairPoint’s petition for...
The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission denied FairPoint’s petition for rehearing, in an order issued Thursday. FairPoint wanted to retain a temporary surcharge to help cover the cost of utility pole and conduit property taxes, which the telco had to…
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pay starting in 2010, the commission said. FairPoint asked the PUC for a surcharge in November 2011 and received permission for a temporary surcharge of $0.99, but in June, the commission “concluded that property taxes are an operating expense of the utility that should be recovered through rates, rather than as a surcharge,” according to the latest order upholding the June ruling (http://bit.ly/P3n1Lu). The initial order called for the surcharge to end Thursday and that FairPoint “seek any recovery of the expense through its rates on and after August 10.” The order’s timing is tied to a recent state law, which the commission said would kill its authority over “certain of FairPoint’s retail rate settings.” SB-48, a New Hampshire law deregulating the commission’s oversight of VoIP providers, fixed and nomadic, in addition to Internet Protocol-enabled service providers and pole attachments (http://xrl.us/bnb8iy), became effective Friday. The law establishes the date “after which FairPoint may adjust its rates with greater flexibility than it has had in the past, and after which FairPoint is, in large part, no longer subject to the Commission’s general rate-setting practices,” the commission said. FairPoint had petitioned for a rehearing in a belief the PUC had “retroactively” applied SB-48 and acted inappropriately but the commission disagreed, it said. The PUC used it as a “guidepost,” according to the order. It denied FairPoint’s request for a rehearing and stood by the earlier June commission order. FairPoint declined to comment on the latest order.