20061130Company Responses.pdf

Jean Jewell
From: Daniel Klein
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2012 2:44 PM
To: Jean Jewell
Subject: FW: Follow-up Items - Responses
Attachments: ID responses to commission Nov 06.doc
Importance: High
Could you add this document to RURT-06-01 under Company Responses. thanks
Daniel
From: Susan Case [mailto: [e-mail]]
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 12:03 PM
To: Daniel Klein
Cc: Michael C. Creamer; Andy Schein
Subject: Follow-up Items - Responses
Importance: High
<<ID responses to commission Nov 06.doc>>
Daniel,
Attached are our responses to your follow-up questions. Please don't hesitate to contact me if I may be of any further
assistance.
Susan Case
Human Resource Manager
Rural Telephone Company
892 W. Madison Avenue
Glenns Ferry, ID 83623
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
susan.case(ruraltelphone.com
(1)Monitor batteries at microwave tower sites and replace as necessary at least once every four years;
Al! batteries were replaced with new in 2006. We will continue to test the batteries at each site twice per year (Spring & Fall).
The batteries will be replaced as necessary, not to exceed four years.
(2)Further investigate the possibility of identifying as soon as possible when batteries provide power supply without
recharge for extended periods.
At present, we have not found a way to determine which power supply is being utilized (battery/solar back-up/wind turbine).
We will continue looking into methods for monitoring power use, but at present have not found a viable solution.
(3)Evaluate the need and cost-effectiveness of additional backup power sources for microwave tower sites;
Wind turbines were installed at the James Creek and Trinity tower sites in September and October of this year. The wind
turbines have been checked and are working properly. Other power sources researched are not feasible due to the location
of the Trinity site. Electric is not available and propane is not available nor can it be delivered there. The Trinity tower is on
the side of a mountain at over 9000 ft elevation.
(4)Change the "all circuits busy" message to one that accurately informs customers of an outage situation;
We are working with the engineer and the switch manufacturer to revise the message to include a more general statement
that would cover any type of outage. As soon as the message has been amended, we will notify the IPUC of the change and
the specific wording used.
(5)Correct deficiencies in its repair recordkeeping, including closing trouble tickets when repairs are completed and/or
trouble cleared and documenting outages affecting multiple customers to comply with Rule 503;
Deficiencies in repair record keeping have been corrected by directing our dispatchers and technicians to include detailed
accounts of the trouble and the resolution. The time, open date and close date of trouble tickets are to be noted in the
resolution, as well as, in the "cleared" fields of the ticket.
(6)Provide reports to the Commission regarding any extended outage affecting multiple customers in its Atlanta service
territory and lasting 24 hours or more;
Any outage lasting 24-hours or longer and affecting multiple customers will be reported to the IPUC by the regular dispatcher
or the on-call dispatcher within one business day.
(7)Provide follow-up notice to the Commission indicating how many customers were affected and when the trouble was
cleared and/or service restored;
Follow-up information concerning outages of 24-hours or longer and affecting multiple customers will be provided to the IPUC
within one business day of the restoration of service. The nature of the outage, number of customers affected and the
date/time of service restoration will be included in the report.
(8)For purposes of giving bill credits, if necessary, consider a local service outage in Atlanta that affects multiple customers
as having been reported individually by those customers regardless of the number of customers actually reporting;
We will consider a local service outage in Atlanta that affects multiple customers as having been reported individually by
those customers regardless of the number of customers actually reporting.
(9)Revise its tariff regarding reclassification of residential customers as business customers to be consistent with the
Commission's rules;
We are working on the reclassification of business vs. residential verbiage tariff revision with our consultants. We will have
the tariff including the modified verbiage sent to the IPUC for review/acceptance by December 8, 2006.
(10)Provide employees with company-specific customer service training and training materials;
Customer Service Representatives have weekly training meetings and attend CSR training-specific classes regularly. We
have training manuals (much too voluminous to copy), which we are in the process of re-organizing and indexing into a more
formal training manual.
(11)Work with Staff to revise the summary of rules prior to this year's publication and distribution of the Company's
telephone directories.
We will forward the final draft version of the 2007 Directory to the IPUC prior to publication