TITLE 61

PUBLIC UTILITY REGULATION

CHAPTER 5

POWERS AND DUTIES OF PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION

61-538.  POLE ATTACHMENTS — REGULATION. (1) As used in this section:

(a)  "Broadband" has the same meaning as that term is defined in section 40-517, Idaho Code.

(b)  "Cable services company" means any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, or joint-stock association, and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal representative thereof, that transmits television signals for distribution to subscribers of its services for a fee by means of wires or cables connecting its distribution facilities with the customer’s television receiver or the customer’s equipment connecting to the customer’s receiver rather than by transmission of the television signal through the air.

(c)  "Pole attachment" means any wire or cable for the transmission of a telecommunications service, as defined in 47 U.S.C. 153; broadband; or cable service, as defined in section 50-3002(2), Idaho Code, and any related device, apparatus, or auxiliary equipment, installed on any pole or in any telegraph corporation, telephone corporation, or electrical corporation or on a communications right-of-way, duct, conduit, or other similar facilities owned or controlled, in whole or in part, by one (1) or more public utilities.

(d)  "Public utility" has the same meaning as that term is defined in section 61-129, Idaho Code.

(2)  The legislature hereby finds that many public utilities have, through a course of conduct covering many years, made available space on and in their poles, ducts, conduits, and other support structures for use by the cable services industry for pole attachment service, and that the provision of such pole attachment service by such public utilities is and has been a public utility service.

(3)  Whenever a public utility and a provider of a telecommunications service or broadband or a cable services company are unable to agree on the rates, terms, or conditions for pole attachments or the terms, conditions, or cost of production of space needed for pole attachments, then the commission shall establish and regulate the rates, terms, and conditions, and cost of providing space needed for pole attachments to assure a public utility the recovery of not less than all the additional costs of providing and maintaining pole attachments and not more than the associated capital cost and operating expenses of the public utility attributable to that portion of the pole, duct, or conduit used for the pole attachment, including a share of the required support and clearance space. In determining and fixing the rates, terms, and conditions, the commission shall consider the interest of the customers of the attaching provider of the telecommunications service, broadband or cable services company, the public utility on which the attachment is made, and the customers of the public utility.

(4)  To the extent applicable, the procedures set forth in this title shall apply under the provisions of this section.

(5)  The commission shall establish rules, subject to legislative approval, relating to the timing of the permitting process for pole attachments.

History:

[61-538, added 2025, ch. 325, sec. 4, p. 1343.]