The PSC decides to phase in whatever rate increase is approved over two years. Phone companies wanted the raise in a year and a day.
By LOUIS HAU
Published October 1, 2003
Your residential phone rate may still rise as sharply as the big phone companies want, but not as quickly.
A decision Tuesday by the Florida Public Service Commission means that proposed increases in basic rates for local service would be phased in over at least two years, rather than barely more than one year, as the phone companies had originally requested.
But the commission has yet to act on the size of the increases. The public's opportunity to comment on the controversial rate hikes will begin tonight with a hearing in Jacksonville.
The commission Tuesday added four public hearings, including one in St. Petersburg, to the 10 it had previously scheduled.
In the dispute over the timing of rate hikes, the PSC voted unanimously to approve the Office of Public Counsel's request to dismiss the applications by Verizon, Sprint and BellSouth. All three companies want to raise their rates sharply under new phone regulations signed into law by Gov. Jeb Bush in May. In exchange for those proposed rate hikes, which range from 30 to 90 percent, the companies must make corresponding cuts in the access fees they charge long-distance companies to complete instate calls. However, it isn't yet clear to what extent those access-fee reductions will result in savings for residential customers.
According to the wording of the new law, which was drafted by the phone companies, the local service rate changes must be completed "over a period of not less than 2 years or more than 4 years."
The public counsel's office, the state's consumer advocate on utility issues before the PSC, argued that the commission should dismiss the phone companies' applications because the second phase of the two-part rate hikes would go into effect a year and a day after the first phase.
The phone companies countered that "two years" didn't mean 24 months but rather that the increases would occur in two separate years. Under this interpretation, Sprint attorney John Fons argued Tuesday, "366 days is two different years."
Responding to Fons' efforts to make this semantic distinction. PSC chairman Lila Jaber laughed and said, "I should let you start all over because I didn't understand anything you just said."
After further questioning from the commission, Sprint's Fons and attorneys for BellSouth and Verizon suddenly relented and agreed to amend their applications. The three companies said they planned to submit amended applications with an adjusted time frame within 48 hours.
The 90 days that the law grants the PSC to process the applications will start over again once those new applications are submitted. So the PSC has postponed its final deliberations from the originally scheduled Nov. 4 through 6 to Dec. 10 through 12.
Public hearings will begin as scheduled. That includes a session to be held at 1 p.m. Friday in Tampa on the 26th floor of the Hillsborough County Center, 601 E Kennedy Blvd.
Due to the added month of time available for deliberations, the commission decided Tuesday to schedule additional public hearings in St. Petersburg, Fort Walton Beach, Daytona Beach and West Palm Beach. Dates and locations will announced soon, PSC spokesman Kevin Bloom said.
- Louis Hau can be reached at hau@sptimes.com or 813 226-3404.
