Fine Proposed for PacBell:

A member of the five-person California Public Utilities Commission issued a revised opinion ordering changes in some Pacific Bell marketing practices and imposing fines totaling more than $2 million.

In doing so, Josiah Neeper revised his earlier opinion, which did not include penalties. However, Neeper maintains that PacBell’s sales programs did not mislead customers into buying extra services.

Neeper’s conclusions on the nearly 3-year-old dispute are in stark contrast to the opinions from the PUC judge who presided over the complaint case.

In a harshly worded separate decision, the judge found PacBell guilty of misleading customers in several ways, and ordered the phone company to pay penalties totaling $49 million, plus additional payments in potential refunds. The full commission is scheduled to vote on the two proposed decisions at its meeting on Thursday.