The PUC commissioners recently gave their duty of approving fee increases to the companies they are suppose to oversee. Now telecommunications companies can raise their fees anytime they want.
I have Cox Communication for telephone service, which is the only option for our area.
Cox, of course, did not wait a minute and took immediate advantage and raised their non-publish number rate from .28 to 1.25. There is no cost related to not having a number not published; maybe a savings for not having to print the number in a directory.
The notice on our bill states “Cox has made operational changes to the process for managing non-published directory listings. This unexpected increased cost, along with our ongoing operational costs, requires Cox to increase its monthly non-published listing rate. Therefore, effective September 1, 2007, Cox will increase its rates for telephone customers as follows: Rates for Directory Listing - Non-Published customers ... will increase from $0.28 to $1.25/month.”
The reasons given in the notice are just plain nonsense.
What was unexpected? That the PUC would abdicate its duty and give the companies the opportunity to make more money. A dollar increase is not a lot of money, but it is still not ethical.
The PUC is not doing their stated job of “dedicated to ensuring that consumers have safe, reliable utility service at reasonable rates, protecting against fraud, and promoting the health of California's economy.”
Please investigate the PUC and find out why this has been done. Please reverse the change the PUC made.
