Mich. PSC Seeks Smooth Transition for State Lifeline Opt-Outs
The Michigan Public Service Commission is preparing for telcos to opt out of the state Lifeline program later this year due to a 2020 state law. Providers may give customers 90 days' notice starting Aug. 30. “There’s always worries” about customers who may be using the state discount, but the number of customers receiving the discount is “very small and continuing to diminish pretty drastically,” and getting people enrolled in the FCC’s affordable connectivity program (ACP) could have bigger impact, Commissioner Tremaine Phillips told us last week at the NARUC meeting in San Diego.
Only landline providers are required to give Michigan's Lifeline discount, which covers wireline voice and is $3-$5 monthly for people younger than 65 and at least $7.10 for seniors. But in March 2020, state lawmakers amended the Michigan Telecommunications Act Section 316 to create a way for providers to opt out of giving the state discount. If a company notifies customers Aug. 30, it could opt out Nov. 30. About 2,700 customers receive the state Lifeline discount today, said a Michigan PSC spokesperson: Customers would still get the $5.25 federal Lifeline discount for voice-only services and the opt-out wouldn’t affect a company’s eligible telecommunications carrier designation.
People getting the state discount are probably “most in need of those services,” whether it’s because they’re “elderly or in rural areas where maybe there isn’t broadband access,” said Phillips, who is also the NARUC Telecom Committee chairman. It’s important to ensure “that there’s proper notice and communication” and, if possible, a way to move them to companies still offering state assistance, said the state commissioner.
Michigan’s law lacks specific requirements for the notice, but PSC staffers have been meeting with telecom providers and associations to discuss timing of letters “and to stress the importance of customer notices and education,” said the PSC spokesperson: The agency is “encouraging providers that additional notices to customers may be beneficial,” even though they’re not required. For transparency, PSC staff asked providers opting out to submit their notices in docket U-21177, and “staff have also sought reassurance from providers that customers who do not switch to a different Lifeline provider … will not lose their landline service,” said the spokesperson: The PSC’s telecom complaint staff will prepare to help any customers with questions on notices they receive.
Customers of companies that opt out of state discounts will be able to participate in the federal Lifeline and ACP, “which offers discounts far in excess of the Michigan-specific discounts,” emailed Telecommunications Association of Michigan (TAM) President Scott Stevenson. Those programs cover broadband, unlike Michigan Lifeline, he noted. TAM expects members will work closely with affected customers to ensure they can continue to afford services, including through some companies’ own low-income discounts, Stevenson said.
AARP Michigan encourages state Lifeline customers and other low-income residents to apply for the FCC’s ACP program, said Associate State Director-Advocacy Melissa Seifert.
ACP is likely driving down state and federal Lifeline subscriber numbers, emailed NARUC Senior Manager-Policy Sherry Lichtenberg. “The real question in my mind is what will happen when the ACP is gone?” Twenty-three states had Lifeline funds in 2022, found a NARUC survey for a paper coming this fall. Alaska and North Dakota used to have funds but discontinued them. Oklahoma’s Lifeline program gives customers just one penny per month. Hawaii and Delaware authorized Lifeline funds but never implemented them.