19950921_1.docx

MINUTES OF DECISION MEETING
September 21, 1995 - 2:30 p.m.
In attendance at this time were:  Commissioner Ralph Nelson, Marsha H. Smith and Dennis Hansen and staff members Weldon Stutzman, Don Howell, Bill Eastlake, Eileen Benner, Birdelle Brown, Randy Lobb, Stephanie Miller, Don Oliason, Syd Lansing, Judy Stokes, Bev Barker, Allan Killian, Jim Long and Chris Maschmann.
Also in attendance was John Souba of U S WEST Communications.
Commissioner Nelson called the meeting to order at 2:30 p.m.
Items from the September 21, 1995 Agenda were discussed and acted upon as follows.
1.  Regulated Carrier Division Agenda dated September 21, 1995.
Commissioner Smith moved approval of the item.  Commissioners Nelson and Hansen concurred.
2.  American Heritage Complaint, Case No. IPC-E-95-13.  (Update)
Don Howell said pursuant to the Commissioners request this was handled as a formal complaint and had asked the staff to reach a formal resolution.  Subdividor in Chubbuck/Pocatello got final planning authority on his 20 subdivision and proposed cost estimate of wiring the subdivision was not the problem, but $54,000 cost estimate on upgrading the distribution line from one phase to two phase, was.  Staff talked to Mr Bird and determined that a portion of that $54,000 estimate should be attributed to Company betterment. Consequently the amount American Heritage would have to pay for the upgrade should be approximately $16,000.  Substantial portion of upgrade is attributable to a change in the national electric safety code.  $16,000 is agreeable with Mr. Bird and his attorney.  Last minute wrinkle was instead of 20 unit subdivision, got a 10.  The problem is IPC would not want to do 10 and then 10 more.  Idaho Power will settle for $16,000.
Commissioner Nelson said to hold this item and bring it back when they have something more.  
3.  Rose Schulte’s September 14, 1995 Decision Memorandum re:  Tariff Filing of Eagle Water Company.
Beverly Barker stated that in 1991 the Commission approved the revised general service provisions of Eagle Water.  Schedule No. 3-nonrecurring rates- was not revised and in finding the error staff asked the Company to submit a corrected page.   
Commissioner Smith stated that the confusion was that there was another page called nonrecurring charges that was different and these are actually the same charges that appeared in the tariff two different places; now we are trying to fix it by making the nonrecurring charges look like the disconnection and reconnection section. What kind of process do we need to do this?
Bev Barker said Eagle Water has indicated that they have never assessed these fees.
Commissioner Smith asked if either fee had been assessed?
Bev Barker answered no.
Commissioner Smith said we do not need to do a modified procedure We need to decide what rate and be consistent in the tariff.
Commissioner Nelson recommended $15.00 regular business hours, $30.00 after business hours was alright with him.
Commissioner Smith and Commissioner Hansen agreed.
4.  Judy Stoke's September 14, 1995 Decision Memorandum re:  Complaint from Jack Terry Regarding Held Orders to get New Service Installed.
Judy Stokes said the Company had seven held orders and Jack Terry was one of them.
Commissioner Smith asked how long they had held the orders.
John Souba said Mr. Terry was the oldest of the seven that were held.  There are different kinds of plug ins for different kinds of customers that are served by carrier equipment or direct fees.  Rearrangements were made in the central office and were able to solve all the held orders including Mr. Terry’s.  In January 573 additional lines of both types will be coming to solve ongoing problems.  Currently have 70 additional lines that will hold until the conversion in January.
Commissioner Nelson said he would like to make the inquiry to the company as to whether there are any other exchanges where they are out of capacity or nearly out of capacity that don’t have some definite plans for upgrade.
Commissioner Smith agreed with Commissioner Nelson.
It was decided that the Company should send a written response to Mr. Terry and a written response to the Commission on the process the Company uses to keep track of how much capacity is available.
5.  Weldon Stutzman's September 18, 1995 Decision Memorandum re:  Case No. TRO-T-95-1; Petition to Re-Open the Troy Telephone Business Office in Troy, IDaho
Commissioner Smith stated she felt the Company was providing fair and good service to the people of Troy and the petition should be denied.
Commissioner Hansen agreed. Commissioner Nelson also agreed that the service was not inadequate and that the petition should be denied.
6.  Weldon Stutzman’s September 18, 1995 Decision Memorandum re:  Case No. USW-S-95-6; Gellert Company V. U S WEST Regarding Assignment of a Telephone Number.
After brief discussion, was decided since the parties have already resolved this complaint the Commission should dismiss the case with a Minute Entry.
7.  Weldon Stutzman’s September 20, 1995 Decision Memorandum re:  Cambridge Telephone Company Rate Increase to Meet Universal Service Fund Requirements.  Case No. CAM-T-95-1.
Weldon Stutzman commented the Company would file comments agreeing with Staff on proposed increments.
Commissioner Smith said her concerns were if the mailing list for notices was the same as staff sends out for comments then the Cambridge customers have no idea that: (a) we made one proposal or that (b) there is a second alternative.  She proposes that we reissue a notice stating our intention to adopt staff proposal and do the three separate increments and have Gary Richardson do a press release/renotice the three step process.  The effective date would be Nov 1st instead of Oct 1st.
Commissioners Nelson and Hansen agreed.
8.  Birdelle Brown’s September 18, 1995 Decision Memorandum re:  Century Telephone Company Advice 95-5 to Revise Universal Service Fund Surcharge.
Commissioner Smith moved approval.  Commissioner Nelson and Commissioner Hansen concurred.
9.  Birdelle Brown’s September 19, 1995 Decision Memorandum re:  Century Telephone Company Advice 95-4 to Introduce New Calling Features, Effective October 1, 1995.
Commissioner Smith moved approval; concurred by Commissioner Nelson and Hansen
10.  Staphanie Miller’s September 19, 1995 Decision Memorandum re:  Pacificorp Request for Certification to the SEC Regarding Foreign Utility Company Investments.
Commissioner Nelson said this is what we did for Intermountain Gas.  
Stephanie Miller said Staff has no objections.
Commissioners approved.
11.  Scott Woodbury’s September 20, 1995 Decision Memorandum re:  Case No. INT-G-95-4, Industrial Transportation Tariffs.  T-1 Tariff Change; T-2 New Tariff.
Commissioner Smith moved that we do Modified Procedure.
Commissioner Nelson agreed.
12.  Bev Barker’s September 19, 1995 Decision Memorandum re:  AT&T Minimum Bills.
Bev Barker reported that AT&T has now notified all their customers although a lot of them said they have not received notification.  AT&T believes the last line of their ad was an open invitation for people to call in about credits or questions.  The Company has agreed to automatically credit accounts for as long as it takes, and that the credits will be taken care of by Nov. 1st.
Commissioner Smith said this has been resolved and it was approved by all.
Meeting adjourned.
Dated at Boise, Idaho, this 29th day of September, 1995.
Chris Maschmann,
Assistant Commission Secretary
19950921.min