WASHINGTON, D.C. — Millions of people in Ohio and across the country are paying more out of pocket for internet service this month after a popular federal subsidy program expired.

What You Need To Know

  • The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) expired this month after Congress failed to pass an extension

  • One internet provider says losing the subsidy is already affecting a project to bring high-speed internet to rural areas

  • Legislation to renew the ACP remains stalled in Congress

The Affordable Connectivity Program shaved $30 off monthly internet bills for more than 1 million Ohio households.

The end of the subsidy is risking the future of one project to bring high-speed internet to rural areas in 14 counties of southwestern and eastern Ohio, according to South Central Power Company, which is behind the project that has already received $98 million in grants from BroadbandOhio. Even after the project connects its goal of 20,000 households, many of those families may not be able to afford service.

“This is an area of Ohio which is among the poorest, not only in Ohio, but the United States,”  South Central Power CEO Rick Lemonds said. “The demographics for this area are a lot of retired folks on fixed incomes, a lot of poverty-level families, and that’s why this is a critical element for our consumers.”

ACP subsidies were paid to internet providers, including South Central Power Company and Charter Communications, the parent company of Spectrum News.

The program’s proponents said the $7 billion cost of the proposed extension would be money well spent.

“So we give tax cuts to rich people and then take it and then just ignore rural voters and rural residents? I mean, this is not an especially expensive program,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown, who has pushed to renew the program. “And this isn’t a giveaway. This is an investment that attracts other investment.”

Republican leadership in both the House and Senate has not acted to renew the program, apparently due to concerns about government spending and the national deficit.

“I started talking to McConnell and Schumer about this in October because we knew that it was going to expire, mid-year 2024,” Brown said. “There’s no reason this wasn’t done except for chaos and dysfunction in Washington. And it shouldn’t have gotten to this point.”

The Senate Commerce Committee has now twice delayed voting on a bill to fund the ACP. There is currently no new date set to advance the bill.