Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel

Telephone deregulation bills will likely raise rates

Ohioans deserve fair, competitive and reasonably priced local telephone service. The Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel (OCC), the residential utility consumer advocate, is concerned about legislation being considered by the Ohio Senate (Senate Bill 162) and Ohio House of Representatives (House Bill 276) because it eliminates necessary consumer protections, allows telephone companies to raise rates for basic service without review and does not include any benefits for residential consumers.

Senate Bill 162 and House Bill 276 would:

• Allow annual rate increases of $1.25 for the monthly price for basic local service for all Ohio local telephone companies without review by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio;

• Allow telephone companies to impose a surcharge to non-Lifeline customers for a portion of the Lifeline discount provided to low-income customers.

• Weaken or remove consumer protections in important areas such as customer credits, billing, deposits and reconnection standards;

• Reduce low-income consumer benefits by limiting Lifeline program enrollment and educational efforts about the program;

• Lower telephone service quality standards by allowing telephone companies to take 72 hours (three days) to restore outages, and five days to reconnect disconnected lines;

• Fail to provide commitments for broadband access to all Ohioans; and

• Fail to maintain consumer protections for bundled telecommunication services.

The OCC has developed this Web page to inform residential consumers and the media about the negative impact this legislation would have on residential telephone service.

The OCC urges consumers to contact their legislators immediately and let them know the importance of maintaining consumer protections for telephone services. Consumers can make personalized telephone calls, send e-mails or letters to their elected leaders to communicate how this legislation would negatively affect residential consumers.

Call 1-800-282-0253 to find out who your legislators are or visit www.ohiosenate.gov and www.house.state.oh.us/.

Consumers can mail a letter to their state senator’s attention by using this address:

The Honorable (fill in the name of your senator)
Statehouse, Senate Building
Columbus, OH 43215

Consumers can mail a letter to their state representative’s attention by using this address:

The Honorable (fill in the name of your representative)
77 South High Street
Columbus, OH 43215-6111

For more information, consumers can refer to the documents below or contact the OCC at 1-877-PICKOCC (1-877-742-5622) toll free.