Washington Revised Code Title 80. Public Utilities § 80.36.855. Extended area service program

(1) Any customer, business or residential, interested in obtaining extended area service in their community must collect and submit to the commission the signatures of a representative majority of affected customers in the community. A “representative majority” for purposes of this section consists of fifteen percent of the access lines in that community;

(2) After receipt of the signatures, the commission shall authorize a study to be conducted by the affected local exchange company in order to determine whether a community of interest exists for the implementation of extended area service. For purposes of this section a community of interest shall be found if the average number of calls per customer per month from the area petitioning for extended area service to the area to which extended area service will be implemented is at least five;

(3) If a community of interest exists, the commission shall then calculate any increased rate that would be applied to the area which would have extended area service granted to it. This rate shall be based on the charges to a rate group having the same or similar calling capability as set forth in the tariffs of the local exchange telecommunications company involved;

(4) The affected telecommunications company shall be given the opportunity to propose an alternative plan that might be priced differently and that plan shall be included in the poll of subscribers as an alternative under subsection (5) of this section;

(5) After determining the amount of any additional rate, the commission shall notify the subscribers who will be affected by the increased rate and conduct a poll of those subscribers. If a simple majority votes its approval the commission shall order extended area service; and

(6) Any extended area service program adopted pursuant to this section shall be considered experimental and not binding on the commission in subsequent extended area service proceedings. If an extended area service program adopted pursuant to this section results in a revenue deficiency for a local exchange company, the commission shall allocate the resulting revenue requirement in a manner which produces fair, just and reasonable rates for all classes of customers.