ORDER- 1 -Docket No. 2014-00297

STATE OF MAINEDocket No. 2014-00297

PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION

October 28, 2014

MAINE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSIONORDER CHANGING PREPAID WIRELESS FEE AMOUNT

Change ofPrepaid Wireless Fee

Amount, Pursuant to Chapter 284

WELCH, Chairman; LITTELL and VANNOY, Commissioners

I.SUMMARY

In this Order we change, effective January 1, 2015,the per-transaction amount that is included for the Maine Telecommunications Education Access Fund (MTEAF) in the total Prepaid Wireless Fee (PWF), as established pursuant to Chapter 284 of the Commission’s rules. The current MTEAF per-transaction amount included in the PWF does not reflect the currentrate that is charged to other contributors to the MTEAF. In order to reflect the current MTEAF contribution rate of .7%, the Commission will increase the amount of MTEAF that is included in the PWF from $.15 to $.18 per transaction, based on the calculation described in Section 3 (C) of Chapter 284. The other amounts included in the PWF will remain unchanged until appropriate additional notice is provided by the Commission. The total PWF will increase from $.98 to $1.01 per transaction, effective on January 1, 2015, which is the earliest date allowed by law, as currently implemented pursuant to Section 4(B) of Chapter 284.

II.BACKGROUND and DECISION

On September 4, 2012, the Commission issued an Order Adopting Rule and Statement of Factual and Policy Basis in Docket No. 2012-00277, adopting the Prepaid Wireless Fee Rule (Chapter 284). The rule determined the initial per-transaction amounts that were to be collected through the PWF for the MTEAF ($.15) and the Maine Universal Service Fund (MUSF) ($.38). The Order also set the total initial PWF at $.98 per transaction, consisting of the amounts set by the rule for the MTEAF and the MUSF plus the statutorily established E-911 fee of $.45 per transaction. The total PWF is collected on transactions involving the sale of prepaid wireless service by wireless carriers or other retailers. The collection of the PWF by carriers and retailers commenced on January 1, 2013.

In establishing the initial amount of per-transaction contribution for the MTEAF that was included in the PWF, the Commission used the then applicable MTEAF rate of .6%, which had been set by the Commission in its Order of May 30, 2012, in Docket No. 2011-00462. On March 8, 2013, in Docket No. 2013-00116, the Commission issued an Order that approved the MTEAF annual budget request for the period July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014, which was submitted by Networkmaine. In the March 8, 2013 Order, the Commission also approved an increase in the MTEAF contribution rate to the statutory maximum of .7%, which became effective on July 1, 2013. Because by statute and implementing rule the amount of the fee included in the PWF for the MTEAF and the MUSF cannot be changed more than once every 24 months, no change to the total PWF per-transaction amount was implemented in the March 8, 2013, Order.

On March 11, 2014, in Docket No. 2014-00018, the Commission approved the MTEAF budget request for the 2014/15 fiscal year, and it approved a continuation of the MTEAF contribution rate of .7% for that period, which is currently in progress.

On September 16, 2014, the Commission issued Notice of its intent to raise the PWF to reflect the higher MTEAF rate that is currently in effect. No comments were filed in response to the Commission’s Notice. By increasing the total PWF to reflect the current MTEAF rate on a per-transaction basis, the Commission will treat prepaid wireless customers the same as all other telecommunications customers in the State, in that every customer will contribute the same percentage rate to the MTEAF. The increased revenue will provide additional financial support for the MTEAF, which has seen its contributions generally decline over the past several years due to a reduction in the intrastate telecommunications revenues of contributing carriers, as reported by those carriers.

The changes proposed in our September 16, 2014, Notice will result in equitable treatment of all telecommunications customers and, again, we received no comments objecting to the proposed change. We thereforeincrease the per-transaction amount of the MTEAF fee that is included in the PWF from $.15 to $.18 cents, and accordingly, the total PWF will increase from $.98 to $1.01 per transaction, effective January 1, 2015. The amounts contained in the PWF for the MUSF fee and the E-911 surcharge will, at that time, remain unchanged.[1]

Pursuant to Chapter 284 §4(B) of our Rules implementing 35-A M.R.S. 7104-C § 2(E), a copy of this Order shall be posted on the Commission’s publicly accessible website as soon as possible. We will also post thisOrder on the website of our MTEAF/MUSF Joint Administrator, RLSA. Finally,as required by the above-referenced statute and our implementing rule, a copy of this Order shall be sent to the State Tax Assessor, with a request that the State Tax Assessor also provide sellers of prepaid wireless service immediate notice that the PWF will increase to $1.01 effective January 1, 2015 on its website as the statute requires.

III.ORDERING PARAGRAPHS

In light of the foregoing, we

O R D E R

1.That pursuant to 35-A M.S.A. §7104-B (2-A),the amount of the MTEAF included in the Prepaid Wireless Fee, as established pursuant to 35-A M.S.A. §7104-C, is increased from $0.15 per transaction to $0.18 per transaction, effective January 1, 2015; and

2.That on account of the increase set forth in ordering paragraph 1, above, the total amount of the Prepaid Wireless Fee established pursuant to 35-A M.S.A. §7104-C is increased from $0.98 per transaction to $1.01 per transaction effective January 1, 2015.

Dated at Hallowell, Maine, this 28th day of October, 2014.

BY ORDER OF THE COMMISSION

______/s/ Harry Lanphear______

Harry Lanphear

Administrative Director

COMMISSIONERS VOTING FOR:Welch

Littell

Vannoy

NOTICE OF RIGHTS TO REVIEW OR APPEAL

5 M.R.S. § 9061 requires the Public Utilities Commission to give each party to an adjudicatory proceeding written notice of the party's rights to review or appeal of its decision made at the conclusion of the adjudicatory proceeding. The methods of review or appeal of PUC decisions at the conclusion of an adjudicatory proceeding are as follows:

1.Reconsideration of the Commission's Order may be requested under Section 1004 of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure (65-407 C.M.R.110) within 20 days of the date of the Order by filing a petition with the Commission stating the grounds upon which reconsideration is sought. Any petition not granted within 20 days from the date of filing is denied.

2.Appeal of a final decision of the Commission may be taken to the Law Court by filing, within 21 days of the date of the Order, a Notice of Appeal with the Administrative Director of the Commission, pursuant to 35-A M.R.S. §1320(1)-(4) and the Maine Rules of Appellate Procedure.

3.Additional court review of constitutional issues or issues involving the justness or reasonableness of rates may be had by the filing of an appeal with the Law Court, pursuant to 35-A M.R.S. § 1320(5).

Note: The attachment of this Notice to a document does not indicate the Commission's view that the particular document may be subject to review or appeal. Similarly, the failure of the Commission to attach a copy of this Notice to a document does not indicate the Commission's view that the document is not subject to review or appeal.

[1] We note that the provisions of law that places a 24 month limit on the frequency of changes to the PWF on account of changes in the MUSF fee or the MTEAF fee do not apply to changes made necessary on account of a statutory change in the E911 fee.