Not later than July 1st of each year, every ETC that receives federal support from any category in the federal high-cost fund must certify or report as described in this section. The certifications and reports are for activity related to Washington state in the period January 1st through December 31st of the previous year. A company officer must submit the certifications in the manner required by RCW 9A.72.085.

(1) Report on use of federal funds and benefits to customers.

(a) The report must provide a substantive description of investments made and expenses paid with support from the federal high-cost fund.

The report must include the company's gross capital expenditures and operating expenses made with federal high-cost support received by the ETC in the preceding calendar year along with a description of major projects and affected exchanges. A rate of return wireline ETC must also include a copy of its NECA-1 report for the preceding calendar year.

(b) Every ETC must provide a substantive description of the benefits to consumers that resulted from the investments and expenses reported pursuant to (a) of this subsection.

(2) Local service outage report.

(a) The report must include detailed information on any outage in the service area (during the prior calendar year) of at least thirty minutes in duration in which the ETC owns, operates, leases, or otherwise utilizes facilities, that potentially affect:

(i) At least ten percent of the end users; or

(ii) A 911 special facility, as defined in 47 C.F.R. Sec. 4.5(e).

(b) Specifically, the ETC's annual report must include information detailing:

(i) The date and time of onset and duration of the outage;

(ii) A brief description of the outage and its resolution;

(iii) The particular services affected;

(iv) The geographic areas affected by the outage;

(v) Steps taken to prevent a similar situation in the future; and

(vi) The number of customers affected.

(3) Report on failure to provide service. The report must include the number of requests for service from potential customers within its designated service area that were unfulfilled during the prior calendar year. The ETC must also detail how it attempted to provide service to those potential customers.

(4) Report on complaints per one thousand connections (fixed or mobile). The report must provide separate totals for the number of complaints that the ETC's customers made to the Federal Communications Commission and the consumer protection division of the office of the attorney general of Washington. The ETC must also report the number of consumer complaints in each general category (for example, billing disputes, service quality).

(5) Certification of compliance with applicable service quality standards and consumer protection rules. Certify that it met substantially the applicable service quality standards and consumer protection rules found in WAC 480-123-030 (1)(h).

(6) Certification of ability to function in emergency situations. Certify that it had the ability to function in emergency situations based on continued adherence to the standards found in WAC 480-123-030 (1)(g).

(7) Advertising certification, including advertisement on Indian reservations. Certify it has publicized the availability of its applicable telephone assistance programs, such as Lifeline, in a manner reasonably designed to reach those likely to qualify for service, including residents of federally recognized Indian reservations within the ETC's designated service area. Such publicity should include advertisements likely to reach those who are not current customers of the ETC within its designated service area.

(8) Report filing alternatives. To the extent the company has filed a report with a federal agency that provides the data requested by the commission, the company can refer to that docket number and the date the information was filed with the federal agency.

PDFWAC 480-123-070

Annual certifications and reports.