The Kentucky Public Service Commission has raised a surcharge on all phone lines from 8 cents to 14 cents to keep afloat a fund to help low-income consumers access telephone service.
The PSC announced in February the Kentucky Universal Service Fund was in danger of being depleted by April without either raising the fee or reducing the subsidy.
The interim increase will keep the fund solvent while the PSC investigates the its “rapid depletion." In 2011, the fund peaked at $11 million and then declined steadily, reaching just over $400,000 last October.