20041103Comments.pdf

LISA D. NORDSTROM
DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL
IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
PO BOX 83720
BOISE, IDAHO 83720-0074
[phone]
IDAHO BAR NO. 5733
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Street Address for Express Mail:
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BOISE, IDAHO 83702-5983
Attorney for the Commission Staff
BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION FROM
THE RESIDENTS OF THE SHOUP AREA
REQUESTING EXTENDED AREA SERVICE
INTO SALMON, IDAHO.
COMMENTS OF THE
COMMISSION STAFF
CASE NO. GNR- T -01-
COMES NOW the Staff of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission, by and through its Attorney
of record, Lisa D. Nordstrom, Deputy Attorney General, and submits the following comments in
response to the Notice of Modified Procedure and Notice of Comment Deadline, Order No. 29613
issued on October 13 2004.
BACKGROUND
On February 21 , 2001 , the Idaho Public Utilities Commission received a Petition from
approximately 26 residents of the Shoup, Idaho area requesting toll-free extended area service (EAS)
into Salmon, Idaho. On April 3 , 2001 , the Commission issued a Notice of Petition and Intervention
Deadline. Order No. 28694.
The Shoup exchange is located in northern Lemhi County and is served by Rural Telephone
Company. Although the exchange has approximately 40 residential and 10 business telephone
customers, there is presently no toll-free calling to any other exchange.
ST AFF COMMENTS NOVEMBER 3, 2004
Salmon is the county seat of Lemhi County and is served by CenturyTel of Idaho. CenturyTel
operates three adjoining exchanges in Lemhi County: Salmon, Leadore and North Fork with
approximately 4 200 total customers combined. The petitioners have requested local calling into the
North Fork and Salmon exchanges.
STAFF ANALYSIS
In 1990, Rural Telephone was granted authority to expand its certificated area and provide
telephone service in the Shoup area in Case No. RUR- T -89-1. Prior to that, residents of the Shoup
area received telephone service from a single magneto-powered line which connected to the facilities
of Centurytel of Idaho at North Fork. The nature of this line required that Centurytel have operators
available to manually connect calls to and from the Shoup area. Rural Telephone s Shoup exchange is
adjacent to Centurytel's North Fork exchange and follows the Salmon river for approximately 25 miles
to the west.
Shoup is a community with many seasonal cabins and recreational businesses related to fishing
and floating the adjacent Salmon River. Shoup has a small cafe which includes a post office and
gasoline sales. There are two other small convenience stores in the area located several miles apart
from each other. For services such as health care, government agencies, schools, churches, businesses
and almost all shopping, Shoup residents must travel approximately 35 miles to Salmon. Staff is not
aware of a school in the Shoup area. However, the county does maintain the road into Shoup
throughout the year. Unlike Shoup, Salmon has at least one Internet Service Provider.
The most recent Shoup calling data collected in July 2004 indicates that most business
customers and many residential customers call into Salmon frequently. For example, 86% of Shoup
business customers made at least one phone call to Salmon during the month while over 60% of
residential customers made at least one phone call to Salmon. During the study month, twenty-one out
of sixty-one Shoup customers averaged three calls to Salmon while eighteen Shoup customers
averaged over forty calls to Salmon. Calling data from May 2001 indicated similar calling volumes
and distribution. In summary, it appears that one-third of Shoup customers make no calls to Salmon
another third make a few calls to Salmon, and the last third of Shoup customers make many calls into
Salmon in a given month.
Staff has received responses to production requests from both Rural Telephone Company
and CenturyTel of Idaho regarding the costs associated with the proposed EAS. Rural Telephone has
determined approximately $7 000 in annual costs and CenturyTel has determined approximately
STAFF COMMENTS NOVEMBER 3 , 2004
500 in annual costs if EAS is implemented. If EAS is approved, there are options for recovering the
related costs. For example, Rural Telephone s EAS-related costs could be recovered entirely from an
increase in its Idaho USF draw or entirely from business and residential customers in Shoup or some
combination of the two.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Having concluded its investigation, Staff recommends approval of the Petition for EAS
between the Shoup exchange and the exchanges of North Fork and Salmon. Staff believes many
Shoup customers would benefit from the ability to call government, medical, community and Internet
services without incurring toll charges and also believes EAS can be implemented economically.
Because Shoup customers would benefit from EAS , Staff believes it is reasonable to increase
rates in Shoup to the same level that other Idaho customers pay where EAS has been implemented
($24.10 residential and $42.00 business). Remaining EAS costs can be off-set by increasing Rural'
annual USF draw by approximately $5 400. Therefore, Staff recommends that Rural Telephone s rates
for Shoup customers be increased from $21.63 per month for residential service to $24.10 and from
$40.68 to $42.00 for business service. In addition, Rural Telephone would increase its Idaho USF
draw by approximately $5 400 (1.7%) annually to cover its remaining EAS costs. CenturyTel
customers in Salmon and North Fork would also benefit from EAS to Shoup. Because CenturyTel is
not an Idaho USF recipient, Staff recommends that CenturyTel's EAS costs be off-set by increasing the
rates for customers in Salmon and North Fork from $21.75 per month to $21.84 for residential service
and from $39.77 per month to $39.86 for business service. Staff and the companies are in agreement
regarding the submitted costs of EAS and the proposed rate increases.
Respectfully submitted this
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day of November 2004.
-. .
Lisa D. Nordstrom
Deputy Attorney Ge ral
Technical Staff: Doug Cooley
umisc/comments/gnrtOl.31nccdc
ST AFF COMMENTS NOVEMBER 3, 2004
CERTIFICA TE OF SERVICE
HEREBY CERTIFY THAT I HAVE THIS 3RD DAY OF NOVEMBER 2004
SERVED THE FOREGOING COMMENTS OF THE COMMISSION STAFF, IN
CASE NO. GNR-01-, BY MAILING A COpy THEREOF POSTAGE PREPAID , TO
THE FOLLOWING:
TED HANKINS
CENTURYTEL OF IDAHO INC
PO BOX 4065
MONROE LA 71211
MORGAN W RICHARDS JR
ATTORNEY AT LAW
PO BOX 1632
BOISE ID 83701
JAMES R MARTELL
RURAL TELEPHONE COMPANY
892 W MADISON AVE
GLENNS FERRY ID 83623
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE