DE 98-042
Bell Atlantic
Petition to Include Derry and Salem in the Local Calling Area of
East Hampstead (Plaistow Exchange)
Order Establishing Customer Polling Schedule to Consider the
Addition of Derry and Salem to the Plaistow Exchange
O R D E R N O. 23,186
April 5, 1999
On March 20, 1998, the New Hampshire Public Utilities
Commission (Commission) received a letter from State Senator
Richard Russman urging the Commission to expand the Plaistow
local calling area to include Derry and Salem. On April 1, 1998,
the Commission received a petition from Karen Solomonides and
Cheryl Giaquinta, signed by 250 residents of the Plaistow (382
and 378) exchange, requesting that the local calling area be
expanded to include Derry and Salem. The petition explained that
central and western Hampstead are located in the Hampstead
exchange (329 & 362), which includes Derry and Salem in the local
calling area, while East Hampstead is located in the Plaistow
exchange which does not include Derry and Salem in the local
calling area. The petition also requested an evening hearing in
the town of Hampstead.
On July 20, 1998, the Commission issued an Order of
Notice scheduling an evening hearing for August 4, 1998. The
Order of Notice indicated that EAS petitions are subject to a
standard established by Order No. 22,204 (June 18, 1996) which
includes consideration of community of interest, the effect on
telecommunications competition within New Hampshire, and
consistency with state and federal law.
On August 4, 1998, the Commission held a duly noticed
hearing for the public at the Hampstead Town Hall. The
Commission heard comments from members of the public and from the
New England Telephone & Telegraph Company d/b/a Bell Atlantic and
hereinafter referred to as Bell Atlantic. The Commission
accepted comments submitted in writing or by electronic mail
after the hearing.
On October 7, 1998, the Commission issued Order No.
23,038 finding that the Plaistow exchange does not appear to
encompass the East Hampstead community of interest. The order
stated that the Commission was convinced that the petitioners had
established the existence of a community of interest between the
customers of East Hampstead and the towns of Derry and Salem.
The Commission further determined that those customers residing
in the East Hampstead portion of the Plaistow exchange should be
afforded the same local calling opportunities as those citizens
residing in the western and central portions of Hampstead.
However, the Commission was not convinced that it was necessary
or appropriate to poll the entire Plaistow exchange on the
question of whether the entire exchange should be augmented to
include Salem and Derry. Accordingly, the Commission ordered
Bell Atlantic to provide the following information so that the
Commission could adopt an appropriate plan for resolving this
matter:
1. the cost (per customer) of rewiring the affected
East Hampstead lines from the Plaistow central
office to the Hampstead central office;
2. the cost (per customer) of developing a billing
solution that would treat the East Hampstead
customers as if they were in the Hampstead
exchange;
3. a proposal for a new optional calling plan to
solve the problem and any costs/rates that would
be associated with it; and,
4. any other option that Bell Atlantic believes would
be appropriate to address the issues discussed
above.
On November 13, 1998, Bell Atlantic filed a written
response to the Commission order relative to the four topics
noted above. On January 8, 1999, the Consumer Affairs Department
received a response to Bell Atlantic's November 13, 1998 filing
from the petitioners, Karen Solomonides and Cheryl Giaquinta.
We have reviewed the Bell Atlantic filing and the
petitioner's response. We will address each of the four
possibilities below.
1. Rewire East Hampstead Customers to the Hampstead Exchange
Bell Atlantic estimated the cost of rewiring the East
Hampstead lines to the Hampstead exchange would be $505 per
customer. We calculate that if this cost were paid over five
years in 60 monthly payments, the monthly surcharge would be
$10.18 per East Hampstead customer.
Bell Atlantic stated that all East Hampstead customers,
once rewired to the Hampstead exchange, would pay Rate Group E,
the same as all other Hampstead exchange customers. This would
result in an approximate $1.28 increase in the basic monthly rate
for unlimited residence service in addition to the rewiring costs
noted above. East Hampstead customers rewired from the Plaistow
exchange to the Hampstead exchange would be required to change
their telephone number and would no longer have local calling to
Kingston and the South Hampton locality. If a ballot was
conducted and the rewiring option was favored by over 50 percent
of the voters, opposing customers would still be forced to change
their phone number and pay for the rewiring. New customers who
build or buy homes or businesses in East Hampstead after the poll
would be required to pay the surcharge, notwithstanding the fact
that they had not participated in the rewiring balloting.
The Petitioners' January 8, 1999 response stated that
they believed the $505 charge made this solution prohibitive for
residential customers. However, they were not aware of the
$10.18 monthly surcharge option.
2. Billing Solution
Although Bell Atlantic did not satisfy the Commission's
request to develop the cost per customer of a billing solution
that treats East Hampstead customers as if they were located in
the Hampstead exchange, we are sufficiently convinced that this
option is not viable for several reasons.
First, as Bell Atlantic pointed out, a non-standard
billing arrangement creates problems similar to those identified
in docket DE 96-090 with respect to municipal calling service
(MCS). Like MCS, such a billing arrangement would require a
special code associated with the telephone numbers of each of the
East Hampstead customers in the Plaistow exchange and customers
in the Derry and Salem exchanges. Calls from East Hampstead to
Derry and Salem and calls from Derry and Salem to East Hampstead
would continue to be routed over the toll network. The billing
arrangement would delete charges for these calls which would be
identified by the special code.
In DE 96-090 we ordered intraLATA presubscription to
allow customers to preselect an in-state long distance provider
that could be either the same or different from their
out-of-state long distance provider. Initially, we ordered that
MCS remain intact and gave the parties 90 days to determine a way
to implement this requirement. After 120 days, we received
compelling evidence that mandating MCS would create several
competitive drawbacks and we therefore removed the mandate. A
non-standard billing arrangement for East Hampstead customers
would create the same problems. Because toll charges would be
deleted from customer bills through Bell Atlantic's billing
system, but would continue to be routed through the toll network,
East Hampstead, Derry and Salem customers who select an in-state
toll provider other than Bell Atlantic would most likely be
charged toll for calls between East Hampstead and Derry and
Salem. Eventually we decided in Docket DE 96-090 to allow
competitors the choice to create a data base that would allow
them to remove toll charges for municipal calls from customer
bills. Competitors argued that this would be excessively
expensive, and if required, would prevent them from entering the
market. No competitor elected to create and maintain such a data
base.
In the alternative, we required competitors to advise
potential MCS-eligible customers clearly and unambiguously, that
the particular competitive toll provider was unable to provide
MCS, if that was the case. Despite this mandate, we continue to
receive complaints from customers who were unaware that MCS calls
provided by Bell Atlantic were local but became toll calls if the
customer selected an alternative toll provider.
Second, we believe if we require Bell Atlantic to use a
non-standard billing arrangement for East Hampstead, Derry and
Salem customers, such customers will be less likely to select a
toll provider or local provider other than Bell Atlantic because
they would have to resume toll charges to Derry and Salem or
parts of Plaistow (the East Hampstead customers). This would
create an anti-competitive effect in both the in-state toll
market and the facilities-based local exchange market that we are
not willing to require.
Finally, it has been our experience that MCS has often
been inaccurate and has caused customer confusion. A
non-standard billing arrangement requires diligent maintenance.
Due to the complexities involved with people moving in and out of
East Hampstead, requiring a daily update to the records for calls
from East Hampstead customers and calls to East Hampstead
customers from Derry and Salem customers, we are concerned that
mistakes will occur which will further aggravate customers.
In their response, the petitioners argued that Bell
Atlantic did not satisfy the requirement to develop a cost per
customer for implementing a non-standard billing arrangement.
Further, they argued that Bell Atlantic was making a computer
programming issue more complicated than it actually is. For the
reasons stated above, despite the lack of cost per customer
information, we believe the billing option is not a reasonable
solution given the complicated programming and other issues it
creates.
3. Optional Toll Calling Plans
Bell Atlantic stated in its response that it plans to
introduce a flat rate toll calling plan in 1999, which would
offer local service and unlimited in-state toll for $50 to $60 a
month. The petitioners point out that any optional toll calling
plan fails to offer East Hampstead customers the same local
calling as other Hampstead customers. We agree with the
petitioners and find that because East Hampstead customers would
have to pay more than Hampstead customers in order to call Derry
and Salem this option is not satisfactory.
4. Additional Options
As an additional option, Bell Atlantic suggested that
we require a poll of the entire Plaistow exchange to determine if
the local calling area should be expanded to include Derry and
Salem. The petitioners argue that there is little community of
interest between the majority of Plaistow customers and Derry and
Salem.
After considering the options above, we believe a poll
of customers in the Plaistow exchange has merit. Customers in
the Plaistow exchange may be willing to pay approximately $1.28
a month to gain the ability to call Derry and Salem toll free.
If that is the case, East Hampstead customers will not be
required to change their phone number and will not have to pay
the rewiring surcharge but will nonetheless gain calling parity
with the rest of Hampstead. Therefore, we will direct the
balloting of customers in the entire Plaistow exchange to
determine if customers are willing to pay rates associated with
Rate Group E to add Derry and Salem to the local calling area,
according to the following schedule:
Ballot sent by Commission.... May 24, 1999
Ballots returned by...........June 14, 1999
Ballots tabulated by..........June 28, 1999
The poll shall be considered conclusive if ballots are
returned by 25% or more of the customer base. The outcome of a
conclusive vote will be determined by a simple majority of the
returned ballots.
If the poll is conclusive, and the simple majority of
Plaistow customers reject the addition of Derry and Salem, we
will evaluate other options, including the possibility of
balloting the East Hampstead customers to determine whether the
majority of customers are willing to change their phone number,
pay the $10.18 monthly surcharge for five years to rewire to the
Hampstead exchange, and pay the $1.28 per month rate group
increase.
Based upon the foregoing, it is hereby
ORDERED, that a ballot be conducted of Plaistow
customers to determine if they are willing to add the Derry and
Salem exchanges to the Plaistow local calling area based on the
local rate increase listed on the ballot; and it is
FURTHER ORDERED, that Bell Atlantic provide mailing
labels for Plaistow Exchange customers by May 10, 1999; and it is
FURTHER ORDERED, that in the event the ballot of the
entire Plaistow exchange results in no change to the local
calling area, the Commission will evaluate other options as noted
above; and it is
FURTHER ORDERED, that Bell Atlantic provide mailing
labels of the East Hampstead customers in the Plaistow exchange
to staff within 10 days of such a request.
By order of the Public Utilities Commission of New
Hampshire this fifth day of April, 1999.
Douglas L. Patch Susan S. Geiger Nancy Brockway
Chairman Commissioner Commissioner
Attested by:
Thomas B. Getz
Executive Director and Secretary