PacBell Seeks OK to Charge $1.10 as 411 Fee

In a proposal that is drawing close scrutiny from regulators, Pacific Bell wants state permission to charge residential callers up to $1.10 per call for local directory assistance--a price well above the 50-cent charge it told customers about in billing inserts.

PacBell has stressed that it has no immediate plans to charge more than 50 cents--a price that doubles the current 25-cent fee--but state regulators reacted swiftly by ordering public hearings in November and by requiring PacBell to send a new billing notice to phone customers to clearly inform them of the controversial request.

Word of the proposed $1.10 ceiling price is not going to be welcome news to customers of PacBell, the state’s largest phone company.

In May, the company sent notices to residential customers outlining its plan to reduce the number of free 411 calls to three per month, down from the current five, and raise the directory assistance charge to 50 cents for additional calls.

PacBell made no mention to customers of its request to set the maximum allowable per-call price at $1.10. A spokeswoman said that PacBell presented its plan to customers “clearly and accurately” and that it was not required to include the ceiling rate in the notice.

Even without knowledge of the higher potential price, nearly 3,000 customers sent angry letters or electronic mail to the state Public Utilities Commission, urging the regulators to turn down PacBell’s new prices for directory assistance and a few other, less common services.

Robert Feraru, the PUC’s public advisor, said the number of complaints has been unusually high, and probably ranks the price proposal as one of the commission’s top 10 issues in terms of public response.

In defending its proposal, PacBell said its last price hike for directory assistance was in 1984 and that the current price of 25 cents is below the cost of providing the service.

The company also said the move would have little impact on its customers, since its figures show that 75% of its customers call 411 fewer than three times per month, and that about half of its customers don’t use directory assistance at all.

“I just feel like I don’t understand where all the money is going and why we should give a company more money when they’re a monopoly,” said Genevieve Anderson, an independent filmmaker in Los Angeles, who wrote to the PUC to object to PacBell’s price plan.

The new prices “are out of line and indicate a contemptuous attitude toward your customers . . . they further indicate a desire to participate in deliberate price gouging, which amounts to extortion,” customer Diana Miller wrote to PacBell and the PUC.

In addition to the public complaints, the PUC has received formal protests from Los Angeles County; the PUC’s Office of Ratepayer Advocates, an independent consumer advocacy arm of the commission; and the Utility Reform Network, a San Francisco-based consumer group.

GTE, the state’s second-largest phone company, gives residents five free 411 calls per month, and charges 35 cents for additional calls. The company said it had no immediate plans to raise those rates.

For callers in either PacBell or GTE territories, there is no other provider of 411 service. Long-distance information services--like the familiar (area code) 555-1212 service provided by AT&T--can; be pricey, and some charge as much as $1.10, but consumers ultimately have a choice of providers and can shop around to some extent.

If PacBell wins permission to set the ceiling price at $1.10, the PUC will have effectively dubbed that rate “reasonable,” and the company can raise the price to $1.10 with just 30 days notice to regulators. PacBell would not be obligated to provide bill-insert notices to customers or to present evidence at a hearing to gain increases within the limit, according to a PUC official.

Consumer groups and others have attacked the PacBell proposal on several fronts: for not fully informing customers of the potential increase; for mentioning the $1.10 rate only in an exhibit attached to its application, and for trying to set new prices above its stated costs.

PacBell would not disclose its costs Wednesday, but in a public filing, the company said 411 calls cost the company 33 cents each.

Critics say PacBell’s 411 plan--one in a string of proposed price hikes--is further evidence of a new drive for more revenue instilled by San Antonio-based SBC Communications, which bought PacBell last year.

“They are asking for a great deal more than the alleged cost. [We are] of the opinion that the moving force behind this . . . is SBC’s policy to generate more revenue,” said Andrew Ulmer, a PUC attorney handling the case for the Office of Ratepayer Advocates. “They have captive customers that they are getting ready to gouge.”

Experts predict higher directory assistance prices nationwide, just as several trends are making directory assistance more important today than ever before.

People and businesses move--and change phone numbers--far more frequently than in the past, and printed directories are quickly out of date. That problem is further complicated by the proliferation of new area codes, both locally and nationally.

What’s more, an increasing number of customers’ daily calls are to numbers not listed in their home-territory directory. Phone companies also have begun charging fees to provide customers with so-called “outside area” directories.

And although many search services have cropped up on the Internet, the universe of people with Internet access remains limited, and the databases held by the local phone companies is often the single most accurate listing of phone numbers.

* VICTORY FOR ONLINE FIRMS: Net service providers’ exemption from local fees upheld. D1

Times on the Web: What do you consider a fair charge for a directory assistance call? Take an informal survey on The Times’ Web site, at: http://161.35.110.226/pacbell