9.	RETIREMENT PLANS

Multi-employer Defined Benefit Plan

Pension benefits for substantially all of the Company’s Alaska-based employees are provided through the Alaska Electrical Pension Fund (“AEPF”). The Company pays a contractual hourly amount based on employee classification or base compensation to the AEPF. As a multi-employer defined benefit plan, the accumulated benefits and plan assets are not determined for, or allocated separately to, the individual employer. This plan is not fully funded under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”).

Defined Benefit Plan

The Company has a separate defined benefit plan that covers certain employees previously employed by Century Telephone Enterprise, Inc. (“CenturyTel Plan”). This plan was transferred to the Company in connection with the acquisition of CenturyTel, Inc.’s Alaska properties, whereby assets and liabilities of the CenturyTel Plan were transferred to the ACS Retirement Plan on September 1, 1999. This plan is not fully funded under ERISA as of September 30, 2013.

For additional information regarding the funding status of our plans, please refer to the audited financial statements and footnotes therein included in our Form 10-K dated December 31, 2012.

The following table presents the net periodic pension expense for the ACS Retirement Plan for the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2013 and 2012:


	Three Months Ended						Nine Months Ended
	September 30,						September 30,
	2013			2012			2013			2012
Interest cost	$	160		$	179		$	480		$	466
Expected return on plan assets		(180	)		(174	)		(541	)		(440	)
Amortization of loss		205			199			612			532

Net periodic pension expense	$	185		$	204		$	551		$	558