Revision: Jan. 25, 2024, 9:51 a.m.
2024 SESSION
24-3152.0
06/05
SENATE BILL [bill number]
AN ACT relative to the rates for pole attachments.
SPONSORS: [sponsors]
COMMITTEE: [committee]
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ANALYSIS
This bill grants the public utilities commission the authority to create and enforce a pole attachment formula.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
24-3152.0
06/05
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Four
AN ACT relative to the rates for pole attachments.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 New Paragraph; General Regulations; Pole Attachment Formula. Amend RSA 374:34-a by inserting after paragraph VIII the following new paragraph:
IX.(a) The commission shall use a pole attachment formula based on a historic or original cost methodology that relies on data derived from FERC Form 1 or Automated Reporting Management Information System (ARMIS) reports or other information made publicly available by public utilities rather than a multi-part test when either reviewing or setting rates for pole attachments or both reviewing and setting rates for pole attachments.
(1) The formula shall be adopted by order in a non-adjudicative proceeding within one year of the effective date of this paragraph. The non-adjudicative proceeding shall be noticed and shall include, at a minimum, stakeholder sessions and a public hearing.
(2) The commission shall give deference to the Federal Communications Commission formulae in 47 C.F.R. section 1.1406(d) and the requirements in section 1.1404(f) and section 1.1406(e) but may consider any formulae in existing stakeholder agreements in developing the formula.
(3) The commission shall ensure the formula does not discriminate among or against any one attaching entity, including the utility; that it adequately compensates the utility for the portion of its costs of owning, maintaining, and operating poles arising from a pole attachment; and that the resulting rates will be just and reasonable.
(4) The formula shall exclude from actual capital and non-capital costs reimbursements from attaching entities for non-recurring costs.
(5) Within 30 days following its adoption of a formula by order, the commission shall conduct formal rulemaking to incorporate the formula into its rules, to adopt rules for accelerated dispute resolution, and to make any other necessary changes to its rules regarding attachment disputes.
(b) Notwithstanding any other law, rule, or order to the contrary, the commission shall have the authority necessary to fulfill its duties under this section, including but not limited to the authority to require public utilities to maintain the records necessary to track substantial assets and investment in an accurate auditable manner that enables accurate calculation of pole attachment rates in accordance with the formula; the authority to require public utilities to report such property information to the commission; and, the authority to ensure that attaching entities have timely access to all such data.