PUC Leans Toward Letting PacBell Double 411 Fee
Pacific Bell would be allowed to double the price of local directory-assistance calls to 50 cents and reduce the number of free requests callers get each month under a draft decision from a state regulator released late Tuesday.
The Public Utilities Commission’s proposed decision, while not final, comes after a series of hearings and public meetings stretching back more than a year. The issue stems from PacBell’s May 1998 application to increase its fee for directory assistance to a maximum of $1.10 per call.
Tuesday’s preliminary decision also would allow steep fee increases for several lesser-known PacBell services. PUC commissioners are scheduled to decide the matter at their Sept. 16 meeting.
Consumer groups immediately criticized the tentative ruling, saying that it would leave customers with “a 100% price increase for a monopoly service.”
PacBell, which serves about 10 million residential customers statewide, has argued that it is providing 411 local directory assistance and the other services to customers below cost. In addition, PacBell says rival information services offered by AT&T; Corp., MCI WorldCom Inc. and others charge more for directory assistance.
Under the tentative decision released Tuesday, PacBell would be allowed to charge 50 cents for local directory-assistance calls, up from the current 25-cent fee.
In addition, the phone company would be allowed to reduce the residential allotment of free 411 calls to three per month, down from five.
Business customers would lose their allotment of two free 411 calls entirely.
Customers with certified visual or certain other physical impairments would continue to be exempt from directory-assistance charges.
GTE Corp., the state’s second-largest local carrier, gives residential customers five free directory-assistance requests per month, and charges 35 cents for each additional call.
Steve Getzug, a spokesman for PacBell, said the draft PUC ruling “allows us to cover our costs and continue to provide our customers with the best bargain for directory assistance in the state.”
PacBell officials say the higher fee will affect only a few residential customers, because 80% of them make three or fewer local directory-assistance calls each month.
Still, the phone company’s fee-hike application last year touched off a storm of criticism. The PUC received more than 4,000 letters or e-mails--a record for the agency--urging regulators to reject the price increase.
Even Los Angeles County officials, outraged by the PacBell request, filed paperwork opposing the effort.
In addition to the directory-assistance rate increase, the PUC draft decision would allow PacBell to increase the per-request fee for a service called “busy verification” from 50 cents to $1.20. PacBell had sought an increase to $2 for the service, which enables a customer to ask an operator to check a busy phone line to make sure it’s not out of service.
PacBell would also be allowed to increase the per-use fee for its “emergency interrupt” service from $1 to $1.25.
The phone company asked for an increase to $4 per use for the feature, which allows a customer to ask an operator to break in on a phone conversation.
GTE charges its customers 50 cents for each busy verification request and $1 for each emergency interrupt.
Toward Utility Rate Normalization, a San Francisco-based consumer group, vowed to fight the tentative approval of the PacBell price increases.
“PacBell should not be allowed to charge fees that are high above cost for what are not competitive services,” said Paul Stein, TURN staff attorney. “The commission’s job is to protect ratepayers, not PacBell shareholders.”
