1982-08-18 Regular Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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13e11, ~~+ YU~ llrop Appeal By DANA PALMER Harte-Hanks Austin Bureau AUSTIN -Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. and the Public Utility Commission agreed Thursday to drop all court appeals involving the phone company's i5o0 and 1981 rate cases "The agree~..ent w~11 result in a potential savings of over ;100 million to customers served by Southwestern Bell," a spokesman for Attorney General Mark White said. If the state had lost the case, customers might have been forced to come up with the ;100 million. Settlement of the lawsuits came only weeks before a hearing on Bell's latest rate request is scheduled to begin at the utility commission The 1980 case had been ap- pealed to the Teaas Supreme Court by both Bell and the PUC. Each party lost as issue at the district court level Meanwhile, the 1981 rate case was being heard in an Austin district court this sum- mer before it was interrupted in recent weeks by closed- door settlement discussions, one negotiator said. - Assistant Attorney General Philip Ricketts and attorneys. for Bell filed for dismissal of the lawsuits only hours after a Public Utility Commission hearings examiner set Sept. 1 as the date to begin hearing Bell's record request for 5471.5 million in additional an- nual revenues. Austin attorney Don Butler, who represents the Teaas Mu- nicipal League and dozens of Teaas cities that fight Bell's rate requests each year, said the settlement would give Bell an additional ;12.2 million. The utility commission will have to decide sometime later this year how BeII w~11 re- cover that additional revenue. Several parties to the law- suits' would not comment on whether a temporary cu~- tomer surcharge might be in- stituted to provide Bell with the additional ;12.2 million. During a meeting with rep- resentatives of various Teaas cities involved in the Bell law- suits, Butler noted that the settlement is good for munici- pal league members because they won siz out of the seven issues in dispute. Those issues, be said, could have cost ratepayers another -1134.8 millioa. - -. _ - --- . Bell won only the issue of li- ceased contracts from the 1980 case. Licensed contracts is the term used for payments Southwestern Bell makes to its parent company, AT&T, for various services. Among the issues the cities won are the so-called out-of- period adjustments, refund of bonded rates, station con- nection charges and non•wage price adjustments. Butler said the three•mem- ber Public Utility Commission gave its approval to the settle- ment last week during a closed-door session and the cities gave their blessing to the agreement Thursday af- ternoon j~,ist before the settle- ment was announced. Despite the good news, sev- eral city officials attending the Teaas Municipal League i te8~~eting expressed dismay at Bell's latest rate request. "It does weal burdensome and tiresome to come back for the sixth time in sin years," steering committee Chavman Don James said. He also noted that rate- payers, should ignore Bell's . claims that the request is for , only a 13.4 percent increase, "That's the average of the total revenue request," James s:id. "The impact is far, far, greater on, for example, rest- ~ dential customers. Their basic ,monthly rate will increase ;<1.60 a month. ); would guess it (the increase) approaches 100 percent in some cases," Looking at the utility com- mission's track record oa Bell rate requests, approval of the full ;471.5 million is unl~ely. In 1976, Bell requested ;298.3.. million and received .;57.8 million; requested ;214.3 million in 1975 and received ;I24.5 million; and requested 5143.6 million in 1979 and won . X138.7 million. ~ ~, As for the two rate cases in court, Bell's 1980 rate request was for ;326.3 million and the 1981 request was for ;46.9.8 million. - The PUC allowed the phone company ;114.3 million in 1980 and ;243.7 million in 1981. PUC-Bell to drop • r~ 1 ra ~~ncrease a peals ~ AUSTIN 1 AP i -Southwestern acing set to begin on dered at Bell and the Public Utility Commis- Sept. 1. sion have agreed to drop appeals of White said in a statement the rate increases granted the tele- agreement between Bell and the phone company in 1980 and 1981. At- PUC to dismiss the appeals could torney General Mark White said save customers more than 5100 mil- yesterday. lion, the approximate total of the ad- The telephone company, dissatis- ded increases Southwestern Bell fled with the rate increases granted wanted from the courts. by PUC, had appealed the two rate "The agreement has been en- orders. dorsed and is supported by the Tex- The agreement came as the com- as Municipal _League's Southwest- mission prepared to hear the latest ern Bell steering committee as rate package filed by Southwestern being in the best interest of all cities Bell. The current X471.5 million re- affected by the agreement," White quest- the largest ever proposed to said. the commission -will be coast- The telephone company went to ~' • court last year after the commission approved a ;243.7 million increase. ~ Southwestern Bell said it needed 5469.8 million. The 1981 rate in- ' crease added;1.70 per month ~ for basic residential service f , than the ;5.45 per month e sought by the company. f