Colo. ALJ Will Draft Order Extending High-Cost Support

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission will soon issue a draft order to implement a 2023 state law that continues until Sept. 1 subsidies from Colorado's high-cost support mechanism (HCSM) to a dozen rural telecom providers. After nobody appeared during a virtual hearing Monday to comment, Administrative Law Judge Harris Adams said he would “take the matter under advisement and issue a written recommended decision.” In an Oct. 25 NPRM (docket C23-0730), the PUC proposed extending HCSM support from Dec. 1 and establishing that in 2024 the commission will allocate 100% of the money collected, “minus the Commission’s administrative costs and distributions to wireline and wireless rural telecommunication providers.”