20120614Nez Perce Tribe Comment.pdf

Jean Jewell
From: [e-mail]
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2012 4:40 AM
To: Jean Jewell; Beverly Barker; Gene Fadness
Subject: PUC Comment Form
A Comment from Nez Perce Tribe follows:
Case Number: GNR-T-12-03
Name: Nez Perce Tribe
Address: P.O. Box 305
City: Lapwai
State: Idaho
Zip: 83540
Daytime Telephone: [phone]
Contact E-Mail: darrenw(@nezperce.org
Name of Utility Company: Proposed rule change
Acknowledge: acknowledge
Please describe your comment briefly:
The Nez Perce Tribe would like to comment on the proposed rule change to land line phone
rules by the Idaho Public Utilities Commission. As the Tribe understands it, the change
would allow for extended time by a utility provider to fix outages and remove the mandatory
billing credit for down time. The Tribe understands that the rationale in support of the
rule is that increased cell phone usage and cell phone coverage has minimized the need for
the 24 hour turnaround time on line repairs. However, the Tribe believes this change will
have a significant impact in rural regions on the Nez Perce Reservation and adversely affect
public safety.
Many tribal members do not have limited cell phone coverage within the Reservation and or
can't afford cellular phones. These individuals will certainly be impacted in an outage and
if the proposed rule is passed it could have an adverse effect on them. During an outage, a
person could be up to 48 hours or through an entire weekend without basic telephone service
to contact 911.
The form submitted on htto://www.puc.idaho.gov/forms/€ipuci/``ipuc.html
IP address is 12.17.162.50