20040326Decision Memo.pdf

DECISION MEMORANDUM
TO:COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER
COMMISSIONER SMITH
CO MMISSI 0 NER HANSEN
COMMISSION SECRETARY
COMMISSION STAFF
LEGAL
WORKING FILE
FROM:WAYNE HART
DATE:MARCH 24, 2004
RE:PETITION FOR EAS BETWEEN BRUNEAU/GRAND VIEW AND
PINE/FEATHERVILLE. CASE NO GNR-01-
On July 31 , 2001 , the Commission received a petition containing 104 signatures of
persons with addresses in the communities of Pine, Featherville, Bruneau and Grand View
requesting extended areas service between the Bruneau and Grand View exchanges served by
CenturyTel of the Gem State and the Boise River exchange served by Rural Telephone
Company. On January 28 2004, the petitions were resubmitted with an additional 3 signatures.
In addition, one petition had been modified to include the Rural exchange of Prairie. The
petitions did not include any indication of a willingness to pay any increase in monthly fees that
may be required if such an EAS were approved.
CenturyTel's Bruneau and Grand View exchanges were provided with EAS to the Qwest
exchanges of Mountain Home and Glenns Ferry, as well as the Qwest exchanges in the original
Qwest Treasure Valley calling area (Boise, Meridian, Caldwell, Nampa, Eagle, Emmett, Idaho
City, Melba, Middleton, and Star) in January of2001 (Order Nos. 28340 and 28501 in Case No
CGS-99-4). CenturyTel's customers were not provided with EAS to the non-Qwest exchanges
(i.e. Boise River and Prairie), that also have EAS to the original Qwest Treasure Valley calling
area exchanges, nor were they provided with EAS to the Qwest exchanges of Payette and
Weiser.
The monthly rate for basic local exchange service for CenturyTel's customers was
increased at that time to $24.10 for residential customers and $39.77 for businesses, plus a rural
DECISION MEMORANDUM MARCH 24, 2004
surcharge of $3.50 for any customer located outside the base rate area. Although CenturyTel'
rates were increased to the level paid by customers ofldaho s rural USF companies, CenturyTel
did not seek USF funding at that time.
The Prairie and Boise River exchanges were also provided with EAS to the same Qwest
exchanges identified above in January of2001. (Case No GNR-98-18) Rural's exchanges
were not granted EAS to the non-Qwest exchanges that also had EAS to the original Qwest
Treasure Valley calling area, nor were they granted EAS to the Qwest exchanges of Payette and
Weiser.
STAFF ANALYSIS
Staff examined the requested routes in the GNR - T -98-18 and CGS- T -99-4 cases and did
not include them in its recommendations in those cases because Staff did not believe a
community of interest existed between the communities in these exchanges. The Commission
set forth criteria to use in analyzing potential EAS routes in Order No. 26311. To determine
whether a community of interest exists to support EAS, the primary factors, in addition to the
calling data, are as follows:
Geographic proximity (distance between exchanges);
The presence of geographic or other physical barriers (mountains, rivers
valleys) between exchanges;
County seat relationship (are both exchanges in the same county);4. The relationship to school districts (do both exchanges share the same
school district);
The proximity to medical facilities and services;
The willingness of customers to pay increased rates.
These exchanges do not share a common boundary, and are separated by the Mountain
Home exchange. The population centers of the Bruneau and Grand View exchanges are more
than 50 miles from the community of Pine, with another 10 miles to Featherville. This distance
includes approximately 20 miles of desert and/or irrigated desert and 30 miles of twisty mountain
and foothills roads. Bruneau and Grand View are located south of the Snake River, with Pine
and Featherville located in the upper reaches of the Boise River.
DECISION MEMORANDUM MARCH 24, 2004
The Bruneau and Grand View exchanges are primarily located in Owyhee County, while
Pine and Featherville are located in Elmore County. While a small, lightly populated section of
both the Bruneau and Grand View exchanges lies within Elmore County, these residents already
have toll free access to the county seat in Mountain Home. No residents of CenturyTel exchange
need to call Rural exchanges to reach a county seat, and vice versa.
A similar situation exists for the schools. Most CenturyTel customers live in the
Rimrock school district. Most Rural customers are in the Mountain Home School District.
While a small section of the Bruneau and Grand View exchanges is also located in the Mountain
Home School District, the customers in this area already have toll free access to any school
serving children in these areas. The schools serving all of these exchanges have access to all of
the homes of students in these exchanges.
Customers from all of these exchanges primarily rely on medical facilities in Mountain
Home or Boise. There are limited medical facilities in the CenturyTel exchanges, but these are
community clinics that offer fewer services than either the Mountain Home or Boise medical
facilities.
Staff informally asked CenturyTel and Rural for any available calling data. CenturyTel
provided data for the months of April, May and June of2001 that indicated not a single call was
placed from either the Bruneau or Grand View exchanges to the Boise River exchange during
this sampling period.
The primary link between these communities is that of recreation. Some residents of the
Bruneau and Grand View exchanges visit the Boise River exchange for recreational purposes.
Residents of the Rural exchanges may also visit the Bruneau and Grand View areas for
recreational purposes. It is highly likely that a few CenturyTel customers are owners of
recreational property in the Rural exchanges.
The petitions failed to include any indication of the willingness of petition signers to pay
for the increased cost ofEAS , even though this information is clearly identified in the sample
petitions provided by the Commission. Although Staff did not request information regarding the
costs of implementing EAS on these routes, the calling volumes are minimal. Staff does not
expect the costs to be significant. However, as Rural is a recipient ofUSF funding, any costs
that Rural might incur associated with implementing EAS over these routes would be paid for
with USF funds that come from the general ratepayers of Idaho rather than Rural's ratepayers
DECISION MEMORANDUM MARCH 24, 2004
who would receive the benefits of this EAS. While CenturyTel is not currently a recipient of
USF, they have priced service above the threshold level and it is possible that the Company
would seek to recover any increased costs from the USF Fund.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the petition be rejected and the case closed with no further
investigation. The requested exchanges fail to meet any of the community of interest criteria
spelled out in Commission Order No. 26311. Staff does not believe it is in the public interest to
ask the general ratepayers of Idaho to pay the costs of allowing a few individuals to make toll
free calls to their homes while they are using recreational facilities.
The Commission adequately addressed this question in the previous cases cited above.
The calling information provided by CenturyTel does not indicate circumstance have changed
significantly since then and the petitioners presented no additional information to support a
reversal of those decisions. Therefore, this petition should be denied.
COMMISSION DECISION
Does the Commission wish to deny this p
WH:udmemos/Rural-CenturyTel EAS dec memo
DECISION MEMORANDUM MARCH 24, 2004