Help the poor by dropping Lifeline

[Commentary] What would happen if the US Department of Energy decided to help low-income households afford solar power by giving money to companies which report that they lease solar panels to these households? In all likelihood, fraud would be a difficult and costly problem, and solar companies would benefit more than the households. Despite the obvious flaws of a system where companies receive money based upon their service claims, this is essentially how the Federal Communications Commission’s Lifeline program works: Telecommunications companies receive money based upon how many households they claim as Lifeline customers. There is a better way — a direct subsidy would be more beneficial to low-income households. If the Lifeline program were ended at the federal level, states would likely need to change their systems as well. That would be complicated, but it is time to get telephone companies and telephone regulators out of the business of public assistance, leaving it to government agencies that are designed to be experts in that field.

[Jamison the director and Gunter Professor of the Public Utility Research Center at the University of Florida. He is also part of the Trump Administration’s FCC Transition team]