OAR 860-025-0060: Reinstatement of Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) Obligations

(1) Any resident or occupant of the property for which the Commission allowed an exemption of the COLR obligations under OAR 860-025-0055, or the exempted COLR utility, may petition the Commission to reinstate the COLR obligations. (2) The petition for reinstatement of the COLR obligations must be filed as set forth in OAR 860-001-0140 and 860-001-0170 and include the information required in OAR 860-001-0400(2) and the proposed effective date of COLR obligations reinstatement. (3) Within 14 days of the filing of a complete petition for reinstatement of the COLR obligations, the Commission will electronically serve notice of the petition on the COLR identified in the petition (unless the petitioner is the exempted COLR), the Commission’s general notification list, and the service list of the docket under which the COLR exemption was granted. (4) The Petitioner must serve notice of the petition upon: (a) The property owner or developer; (b) The residents within the property that the COLR is able to identify. (5) The Commission will conduct contested case proceedings, including a public hearing, to determine if the existing public convenience and necessity require reinstatement of the COLR obligations. The petitioner has the burden of proving that the COLR should be reinstated. Parties to the proceedings may present in support of or opposition to the petition for the Commission’s consideration: (a) Evidence of the willingness of at least 60 percent of the occupants or residents of the property (including the Petitioner) to subscribe to the utility’s service and pay for the incremental cost of providing the service; (b) Evidence of the estimated costs of the telecommunications utility, cooperative corporation, or municipality to serve the exempted area that are over and above the original cost to serve; (c) The service record of the Alternative Service Provider, including but not limited to, statistics about complaints, delays, and service quality; (d) Legal argument or evidence as to why reinstating COLR obligations to the telecommunications utility, cooperative corporation, or municipality is or is not in the public interest; and (e) Other relevant evidence that the parties wish to be considered by the Commission. (6) If the Commission determines that the existing public convenience and necessity requires reinstatement of the COLR obligations to the exempted COLR: (a) The COLR may not be required to incur any costs until the incremental costs necessary to construct the facilities to provide service have been received from the parties identified in section 5(a) of this rule. The COLR may not unreasonably deny payment terms in lieu of one-time payments; and (b) The COLR must receive from the existing provider (if any) the access necessary for the COLR to install and maintain its facilities, including necessary easements, before the Commission requires the COLR to re-establish service. The existing provider may not unreasonably deny such access.