Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel

Telephone deregulation bills will likely raise rates

Updated January 2010

The bills described below are currently going through the legislative process and are subject to change. Materials will be revised as necessary.

The Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel (OCC), the residential utility consumer advocate, opposes legislation passed by the Ohio Senate (Am. Sub. Senate Bill 162) and being considered by the Ohio House of Representatives (Am. House Bill 276) because both eliminate necessary consumer protections, allow telephone companies to raise rates for basic service without review and do not include any benefits for residential consumers.

Am. Sub. Senate Bill 162 and Am. 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;

• Allow telephone companies to impose higher rates on 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 educational efforts about the program;

• Lower telephone service quality standards by allowing telephone companies to take 72 hours (three days) to restore outages, and three days to reconnect disconnected lines; no time requirement to restore service applies to customers with a telephone bundle or package;

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

• Fail to maintain minimum 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.house.state.oh.us/ and www.ohiosenate.gov.

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

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

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