New Plan Offers Gentler Hike in Phone Fees

Residential Pacific Bell customers would pay 35 cents for local directory assistance calls and retain their five free 411 calls each month--instead of a proposed 46-cent fee with fewer “freebies”--under an alternative plan under review at the state Public Utilities Commission.

The lower prices included in the latest directory assistance proposal--if approved--would be a victory for consumer groups and customers throughout the state who objected to the sharp hikes sought by PacBell and to the increases contained in previous PUC recommendations.

“Consumers have told regulators loud and clear that they want rates that are reasonable, and it appears that this is one of the few times that they’ve been heard,” said Charles Carbone, consumer advocate at the Utility Consumers’ Action Network, a San Diego-based advocacy group. “This would help consumers, and it has a fighting chance of getting the votes to pass.”

The alternative proposal, written by PUC Commissioner Carl Wood, would allow PacBell to increase the price of directory assistance calls to 35 cents, up from the current price of 25 cents per call. Residential customers would keep their allowance of five free 411 calls a month, but PacBell’s business customers would lose their current free-call allowances.

The competing proposal, backed by PUC Commissioner Henry Duque, calls for a fee increase to 46 cents for directory assistance and reduces free residential directory assistance calls from five to three per month. In August, Duque recommended a 50-cent 411 fee, but he later reduced the proposed price.

PacBell sparked an unusually strong customer backlash throughout California last year when it asked regulators for permission to raise its 411 charge to a maximum of $1.10, even though the company said it planned to charge only 50 cents for the time being.

The company also sought substantial rate hikes for several lesser-known services, arguing that 411 and the other features were being provided to customers below cost.

As news of PacBell’s request spread, so did the opposition. Los Angeles County filed formal objections to the fee increases, and state regulators received 41,400 letters and electronic mail messages from customers--nearly all of them urging the PUC to reject the price hikes.

During hearings late last year, PacBell argued that it should be allowed to reduce the free monthly calls because 80% of its residential customers make three or fewer directory assistance calls a month.

Consumer groups, however, noted that GTE--the state’s other major local phone company--charges 35 cents a call and gives residential customers five free 411 calls each month. What’s more, they contend that studies put PacBell’s per-call cost of providing 411 at about 33 cents.

For several other PacBell services, Wood’s alternate price proposal mirrors the fees in Duque’s plan. Under both recommendations, PacBell could raise the per-request fee for “busy line verification” from 50 cents to $1.20. The company 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 charge $1.25 for each use of its “emergency interrupt” feature, up from the current fee of $1.

The company hoped to raise the price to $4 for the service, which allows a customer to direct an operator to break in on a phone conversation.

The competing draft decisions will be considered by the five-member PUC at its Nov. 6 meeting.

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Elizabeth Douglass can be reached at elizabeth.douglass@latimes.com.