Industry Disagrees on EEI Pole Petition

Industry disagreed whether the FCC should grant Edison Electric Institute's petition for declaratory ruling on pole attachment rate disputes, in comments posted Tuesday in docket 17-84. Comments were due Monday (see 2107230030). The petition "fails to offer any compelling reason for the commission to revisit either of the well-established policies that EEI seeks to overturn," said ACA Connects, which NCTA echoed. USTelecom agreed and said EEI's proposals "would further exacerbate the digital divide by creating additional barriers to broadband deployment by reducing the likelihood that electric utilities will charge just and reasonable rates." EEI's argument is "flawed" and an attempt to "reverse recent commission precedent," said Crown Castle Fiber. The Coalition of Concerned Utilities, which includes the Arizona Public Service, Exelon, FirstEnergy, the Hawaiian Electric companies, Minnesota Power and NorthWestern Energy, said EEI's petition is "simple to implement, practical from a dispute resolution perspective, productive because it encourages collaboration and settlement, and fair in that pole owners would be informed sooner rather than later of any potential disputes." Granting the petition would "[restore] business certainty to the relationships between pole owners and attaching entities," said Duke Energy, which American Electric Power echoed.