PUC Introduces ‘Bill of Rights’ for Phone Users

Hoping to relieve frustrated phone customers and rein in consumer abuses, state regulators Thursday unveiled a “Telecommunications Consumer Bill of Rights” containing tougher minimum standards for wired and wireless carriers in California.

The new rules, more than two years in the making, are designed to address mounting complaints from customers about billing problems, customer service, misleading sales pitches and other ills.

Existing rules governing phone companies are inadequate, cryptic and buried in indecipherable government filings, said consumer groups and Carl Wood, a member of the California Public Utilities Commission and the driving force behind the regulatory overhaul.

Wood’s proposal sets--for the first time--minimum standards for phone companies in the state and applies them to all carriers, including long-distance, local, prepaid phone card and mobile-phone service providers.

“I think this is a huge deal,” said Michael Shames, executive director of the Utility Consumers’ Reform Network, a San Diego-based consumer group. “From the consumer point of view, creating a comprehensive set of guidelines for telecommunications is about eight years overdue.”

The proposed telecommunications rules would require carriers to:

* Fully disclose all relevant rates, terms and conditions of service in clear language and in readable type size.

* Protect consumer records and personal information from misuse and unauthorized disclosure.

* Provide accurate and understandable bills that clearly label products, services, fees and the names of carriers providing the services, and provide prompt and fair redress for billing problems.

* Treat all similarly situated customers equally, free of prejudice or disadvantage.

In addition, the rules would require the PUC to promote consumer participation in rule making and public policy matters that affect them, and to provide effective recourse to consumers if their rights are violated.

The rules would apply to all carriers in California with more than $10 million in annual revenue and would protect residential and small-business customers. The PUC would enforce the measures and could levy fines of $5,000 to $25,000 for each violation, Wood said.

SBC Pacific Bell, the largest local phone company in California, said it supports the proposal by Wood.

“Having rules that treat all the companies in the industry the same ... we think that’s good for consumers,” SBC spokesman John Britton said.

“Undoubtedly there will be a couple of areas we will want to discuss with the commission, but we think he’s expressed some good ideas today.”

The wireless industry, however, is expected to raise strenuous objections.

“I am fairly sure that we will get a lot of resistance from the mobile carriers, which enjoys exemptions from a lot of regulations that everybody else faces,” Wood said.

But he pointed out that wireless phone service is playing a larger role in day-to-day phone use and is generating record numbers of complaints at the PUC.

Susan Pedersen, executive director of the Cellular Carriers Assn. of California, declined to comment on Wood’s proposal.

“We’re not in a position to comment right now, but we will be looking at the [rules] and following up with the commission,” Pedersen said.

The rules are preliminary and need approval from the full commission.

After a 20-day period for the affected companies and others to comment on the proposal, Wood hopes to put the rules to a vote as early as Aug. 8.