Cost of Capital Study for Telecommunications Utilities

Small rural local exchange carriers (LECs) have filed General Rate Cases (GRCs) at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) through Application and Advice Letter Processes. They have proposed intrastate rates of return in the range of 10% to 12.25%. Filed testimony justifies an intrastate rate of return in excess of 13%. The purpose of this study is to determine a reasonable rate of return for a typical small rural LEC in the USA using publicly available data.