Ariz. USF Depletion Likely After Commissioners Vote Against Fee Increase

The entire Arizona Corporation Commission refused hiking monthly surcharges on customer bills for the state’s high-cost fund, despite projections that the Arizona Universal Service Fund (AUSF) will soon run out of cash. The ACC's lone Democrat joined four Republican commissioners in voting against increased surcharges during a livestreamed meeting Tuesday. Staff warned last month that the AUSF would be depleted by the end of April, meaning no more payments starting May for funding AUSF administrator Solix or Frontier Communications, the only company in the state receiving this high-cost support (see 2402280038). Frontier supported staff’s proposal to increase the monthly surcharge on customer bills. However, Arizona commissioners said during the livestreamed meeting that they preferred addressing the issue through an upcoming Frontier rate case planned for this fall. Commissioner Kevin Thompson (R) can’t support increasing the AUSF fee, he said. “Let’s look at this in the rate case and have a broader discussion on the merits of the AUSF as we go forward.” Arizona commissioners also declined raising AUSF contribution rates in 2022 and 2023 (see 2312050032).