Electric Co-ops Finding BEAD Rules Onerous, Especially on Poles
Two said they were turning down tentative BEAD awards.
WASHINGTON, May 29, 2026 – Local electric cooperatives are finding some rules for a $42.45 billion broadband grant program difficult to navigate, they told reporters Thursday.
Heads from two companies said they were awarded funding under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, but ultimately turned it down.
Based on federally approved award data, one was in line for $1.8 million to serve 180 locations in Colorado. According to draft data posted before federal review, the other had a preliminary award of $2.8 million to serve 1,000 locations in Florida.
Florida hasn’t posted its approved BEAD data, and it’s possible the award was altered before the state’s plan was cleared by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in January.
A big sticking point for electric cooperatives is an NTIA rule around pole attachments. Electric co-ops aren’t subject to Federal Communications Commission pole attachment regulations, but if they participate in BEAD, their in-state footprint is then governed by the FCC regime if there isn’t an existing state regulation for co-op pole attachments.
The FCC sets limits on what fees can be charged to communications companies looking to attach gear to investor-owned utility poles, and sets timelines for application processing and other things.
“The grant areas that we would have built out would have opened up our entire network to FCC pole attach rules, not just the grant build area,” said Jack Johnson, CEO of the Delta Montrose Electric Association. “We thought that was too onerous, and we ultimately turned the money back in.”
He spoke on a call with reporters hosted by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), which represents rural electric cooperatives. The group is gearing up for its annual D.C. fly-in, and outside of BEAD is eager to maintain USDA broadband funding used by its members.
Johnson said the co-op hadn’t denied anyone access to their poles, and that under Colorado rules it couldn’t charge discriminatory rates to other ISPs. But he still wanted more flexibility to negotiate attachment prices.
“It seems unnecessary for there to be some kind of formulaic rate set,” he said. “We know what our market is, our competitors know what our market is. Between the two of us, we’ve been able to come up with amicable rates.”
Mike McWaters, CEO of Suwanee Valley Electric Co-op, said he didn’t turn down the Florida award because of pole attachment rules, though. He cited BEAD’s Build America, Buy America (BABA) domestic manufacturing requirements.
“We had surplus material from our initial build that was not BABA compliant, and it didn’t seem to make sense to go buy new material when we had material sitting in our warehouse,” he said.
Other providers, including satellite operator Amazon and two local ISPs, also pulled out of BEAD awards in Nebraska. The state is planning to hold a new bidding round to cover the roughly 1,700 affected locations.
Fiber supply
Midwest Energy & Communications was awarded more than $59 million in BEAD funding in Michigan and is not turning down the cash, CEO Terry Rubenthaler on the Thursday call.
He said the co-op was laying more than 1,000 miles of fiber for its projects in the state. He said the co-op’s initial order for fiber was unexpectedly canceled, but that he was able to find another vendor.
“We had to do a quick change of plans and were able to secure fiber for our BEAD construction,” Rubenthaler said. “It’s yet to be seen if there’s going to be a real shortage. I think there will be some people who have supply chain issues.”
Amid reports of similar order disruptions and fears that hyperscalers would hoover up fiber supply ahead of BEAD builds, major fiber manufacturers have insisted they have the capacity to meet the increased demand.
NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth said at an event last month that she had met with one BABA-compliant fiber manufacturer and received similar assurances. She said NTIA was monitoring the issue.
Johnson and McWaters said they hadn’t had difficulty securing fiber for their ongoing builds.
“We’re fortunate to partner with a lot of great vendors who anticipated, I believe, the amount of build that was going to go out into rural America,” McWaters said.
