On December 20, 2007, the CPUC approved a decision that established the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) and revised the California High Cost Fund-B (CHCF-B) surcharge rate, which was modified in a previous decision to 0.50%.
Beginning January 1, 2008, the 0.50% surcharge revenues collected from the CHCF-B will now be allocated one-half to the CASF and one-half to the CHCF-B. This effectively makes the surcharge rate for these two funds equal to 0.25%.
Carriers will continue to remit CHCF-B revenues through the normal monthly remittance process at the surcharge rate of 0.25%.
Revenues collected for the CASF at the surcharge rate of 0.25% will be held by the carrier in a memorandum account tracking system and the account will accrue monthly interest on the accumulated balance at the short-term commercial paper rate. Carriers will continue to hold custody of all the collected CASF surcharge revenues and accumulated interest until the CPUC provides further direction on the disposition of these revenues.
For billing purposes, the CASF surcharge may appear as a separate line item on a customer's bill or may be combined with the CHCF-B surcharge in 2008 and 2009 if the CHCF-B line item is renamed to reflect both the “CHCF-B and the CASF.”
Additionally, effective with the billing cycle that began January 1, 2008, the surcharge line items indicate an explanation that a portion of the line item is being directed toward the CHCF-B and a portion toward the CASF.