The Kansas Corporation Commission staff said changing the state’s...
The Kansas Corporation Commission staff said changing the state’s Lifeline program to an equal credit system from the present “hold harmless” approach would have negligible impact on the size of the state universal service fund, now $2.8 million annually,…
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but would greatly reduce administrative burdens on the state program by eliminating the need to perform company-specific Lifeline credit calculations for each eligible telecom carrier. The commission last summer asked whether it should abandon the hold-harmless approach, which pegs Lifeline subsidies to each carrier’s basic rates, or adopt an equal credit system where all eligible telecom carriers get the identical monthly support per Lifeline subscriber (Case 07-GIMT-1353-GIT). The commission staff considered three different formulas for setting a uniform statewide Lifeline subsidy. It found the change would require universal service fund increases of between $40,000 and $152,000 annually, depending on the formula used. The staff said any of the fixed-payment formulas would require only minimal increases to the 4.65 percent annual Lifeline assessment rate, averaging well below a tenth of a percentage point.