Cross-Subsidization; Jurisdiction Over Compliance With the Cross-Subsidization Prohibitions; Expedited Adjudication

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. Public Utilities and Public Transportation
  4. Electrical Service
  5. Electric Membership Corporations and Foreign Electric Cooperatives
  6. Corporate Purposes and Powers
  7. Cross-Subsidization; Jurisdiction Over Compliance With the Cross-Subsidization Prohibitions; Expedited Adjudication

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  1. No electric membership corporation, broadband affiliate, or gas affiliate shall permit cross-subsidization between its electricity services activities, its broadband services activities, or its gas activities. To prevent cross-subsidization between broadband services activities and gas activities and between broadband services activities and electricity services activities, any electric membership corporation with a broadband affiliate that provides retail broadband services shall:
    1. Fully allocate all costs of electricity services activities and broadband services activities, including costs of any shared services, between electricity services activities and such broadband affiliate's broadband services activities, in accordance with:
      1. The provisions of this Code section; and
      2. The applicable uniform system of accounts and generally accepted accounting principles that are applicable to electric membership corporations under federal and state laws, rules, and regulations;
    2. Not charge any costs of electricity services activities or gas activities to the broadband services customers of the broadband affiliate;
    3. Not charge any costs of broadband services activities to the electricity services customers of such electric membership corporation or to the gas activities customers of its gas affiliate; and
    4. Not use below-market loans or below-market funding from programs that are not intended to support the deployment of broadband facilities or broadband services in order to support broadband facilities or to provide broadband services unless the electric membership corporation or its broadband affiliate imputes the difference between market rates and the below-market loans or below-market funding into the costs of its broadband facilities and broadband services. The provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to loans or funding from programs that are intended to support the deployment of broadband facilities or broadband services.
  2. An electric membership corporation that has a broadband affiliate that provides retail broadband services shall:
    1. Not condition the receipt of electricity services upon, nor provide more favorable terms for electricity services in exchange for, persons that receive broadband services from the electric membership corporation or its broadband affiliate;
    2. Have a duty to provide access to the poles, ducts, conduits, and easements of such electric membership corporation to all communications service providers on rates, terms, and conditions that are just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory;
    3. Not provide its broadband affiliate or any communications service provider any information obtained from other communications service providers in the pole attachment request and approval process, including without limitation the requested locations for pole attachments, the locations of the customers to be served, or any identifying information regarding such customers;
    4. When such electric membership corporation is assisting a customer or potential customer seeking to initiate electricity services and there is any inquiry or discussion regarding the availability of retail broadband services, in the course of the same discussion or transaction in which such assistance is being provided, inform such customer or potential customer of other providers offering broadband services in such customer's area based on any service map of a provider of broadband services or similar resource maintained by any department of the state or federal government and inform such customer or potential customer that broadband services may be obtained from such electric membership corporation's broadband affiliate or such other providers of broadband services. Such information shall be provided only with regard to other providers of broadband services that have notified the electric membership corporation's broadband affiliate, in writing and in a commercially reasonable manner, that such provider of broadband services is able and willing to provide broadband services to customers located within all or a portion of the electric membership corporation's designated electricity service territory; and
    5. Develop and maintain a cost allocation manual, to be approved by the commission, describing the electric membership corporation's methods of cost allocation and such other information and policies reasonably required to ensure compliance with this article. Such manual shall:
      1. Establish rules for the pricing of transactions between an electric membership corporation and its gas affiliates and broadband affiliates, as applicable, including the transfer of assets between such electric membership corporation and its gas affiliates and broadband affiliates;
      2. Require the electric membership corporation and its gas affiliates and broadband affiliates, as applicable, to maintain separate books of accounts and records which shall be subject to inspection to confirm compliance with this article and the cost allocation manual; and
      3. Require that all services that an electric membership corporation provides to its gas affiliates and broadband affiliates, as applicable, be provided at the same rates and on the same terms and conditions as any other similarly situated retail customer or communications service provider. Any such services provided to any communications service provider shall be on a strictly confidential basis, such that the electric membership corporation does not share information regarding any communications service provider with any other communications service provider, including a broadband affiliate.
  3. The commission shall have jurisdiction over each broadband affiliate and each electric membership corporation that has a broadband affiliate that provides retail broadband services to enforce compliance within the provisions of this Code section. The commission shall provide for an expedited adjudication of any complaint as to a failure to comply with this Code section and may engage an administrative law judge for purposes of such adjudication.
  4. Except as provided in subsection (e) of this Code section, this Code section shall only apply to electric membership corporations with a broadband affiliate offering retail broadband services.
  5. As to an electric membership corporation that was offering retail broadband services on or before January 1, 2019, whether directly through the electric membership corporation or indirectly through a broadband affiliate, this Code section shall only apply to retail broadband services offered on or after January 1, 2021, and such electric membership corporation shall have until January 1, 2021, to develop and maintain the cost allocation manual required in paragraph (5) of subsection (b) of this Code section.

(Code 1981, §46-3-200.2, enacted by Ga. L. 2019, p. 226, § 3/SB 2.)


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