§  51.507   General rate structure standard.

   (a) Element rates shall be structured consistently with the manner in
   which the costs of providing the elements are incurred.

   (b) The costs of dedicated facilities shall be recovered through
   flat-rated charges.

   (c) The costs of shared facilities shall be recovered in a manner that
   efficiently apportions costs among users. Costs of shared facilities
   may be apportioned either through usage-sensitive charges or
   capacity-based flat-rated charges, if the state commission finds that
   such rates reasonably reflect the costs imposed by the various users.

   (d) Recurring costs shall be recovered through recurring charges,
   unless an incumbent LEC proves to a state commission that such
   recurring costs are de minimis. Recurring costs shall be considered de
   minimis when the costs of administering the recurring charge would be
   excessive in relation to the amount of the recurring costs.

   (e) State commissions may, where reasonable, require incumbent LECs to
   recover nonrecurring costs through recurring charges over a reasonable
   period of time. Nonrecurring charges shall be allocated efficiently
   among requesting telecommunications carriers, and shall not permit an
   incumbent LEC to recover more than the total forward-looking economic
   cost of providing the applicable element.

   (f) State commissions shall establish different rates for elements in
   at least three defined geographic areas within the state to reflect
   geographic cost differences.

   (1) To establish geographically-deaveraged rates, state commissions may
   use existing density-related zone pricing plans described in § 69.123
   of this chapter, or other such cost-related zone plans established
   pursuant to state law.

   (2) In states not using such existing plans, state commissions must
   create a minimum of three cost-related rate zones.

   [ 61 FR 45619 , Aug. 29, 1996, as amended at  64 FR 32207 , June 16, 1999;
    64 FR 68637 , Dec. 8, 1999]