Missouri Public Service Commission

JEFFERSON CITY---The Missouri Public Service Commission has ordered the continued suspension of the assessment which provides funding for the state Universal Service Fund (USF).

The Commission originally suspended the assessment effective January 1, 2020. It was suspended a second time and is currently suspended through September 30, 2022. The Commission has now approved extending the suspension through December 31, 2022, followed by reinstating it at a rate of .0015 effective January 1, 2023.

The Missouri Universal Service Fund currently provides funding to landline carriers for the provisioning of discounted voice service to qualifying Lifeline Program and Disabled Program customers. The Missouri Universal Service Fund is funded through an assessment applied to the intrastate retail revenues of landline telecommunications companies and interconnected VoIP providers. A company has the option of recovering this assessment directly from consumers through a Missouri USF surcharge on a customer’s monthly bill. As an example, after January 1, 2023, a consumer with a monthly bill of $50.00 might see a Missouri USF surcharge of approximately $0.08.

The Lifeline Program is a national program designed to provide discounted voice and broadband services to qualifying low-income customers. The program is overseen by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in partnership with the states. The Disabled Program is a Missouri program providing discounted voice service and voice service bundled with broadband service to qualifying disabled consumers.

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Case No. TO-2019-0346