Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB1221 into law on Tuesday, impacting rural electric cooperatives providing broadband service. The National Law Review reported that the co-ops must adhere to pole attachment regulations by the Florida Public Service Commission.
The new law mandates that if a co-op provides broadband “directly, through an affiliate, or pursuant to an agreement with a third party,” or if it accepts state or federal funding to expand broadband service to unserved areas, FPSC regulations apply. Currently, five of Florida’s eighteen electric cooperatives provide broadband service.
According to The National Law Review, Florida assumed regulation over investor-owned utility pole attachments in 2022, taking control from the FCC. The passage of HB1221 is another state-level effort to regulate pole access. The regulation around electric cooperatives specifically fills a gap in federal law exempting them from pole attachment rules, often leading to “unreasonable or anticompetitive pole rates and conditions on broadband providers.”
Under HB1221, if a pole attachment complaint is filed, the FPSC will apply the rates, terms, and conditions using the FCC’s rules and orders unless a party establishes by competent substantial evidence that an alternative, cost-based rate is “just and reasonable and in the public interest.” The new law also grants the FPSC access to an electric cooperative’s books and records related to pole attachments. Existing agreements (before July 1, 2023) are exempt from the regulation, but only until the contracts expire or are terminated.
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