Michael Neibauer, The Examiner
2008-03-11 08:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -

Telecommunications giant Verizon will cap its residential D.C. rates for nearly two years, upgrade its customer service and repair responses, and improve maintenance of its existing lines under a settlement with D.C.’s top consumer advocate.

The deal between Verizon and the Office of the People’s Counsel is part of a yearlong case before the D.C. Public Service Commission, the District’s utility regulator. Verizon is seeking to deregulate its bundled services — combinations of individual services provided at a flat monthly rate — affording it flexibility to raise or lower prices with virtually no oversight, based on the moves of its competitors.

Under the agreement, which still requires commission approval, Verizon will freeze rates and drop deregulation for basic residential services until Dec. 1, 2009. Its small-business bundles, however, would be deemed “competitive” and released from regulatory oversight.

Verizon further agreed to train its repair technicians to “reduce repeat troubles for the same issues,” implement customer service training, credit customers who suffer service outages longer than 24 hours, send customers text messages regarding the status of repairs, and maintain its copper line infrastructure until the introduction of fiber optic cables.

The arrangement could save residential customers upward of $5 million. It is an acknowledgment on Verizon’s part that its work in D.C. has been less than stellar, said People’s Counsel Elizabeth Noel. The settlement shows Verizon’s “willingness to address and improve an array of key quality of service issues vexing D.C. consumers, which have defied resolution,” she said in a statement.

Verizon has long argued that it faces growing competition for nearly all of its services, and the regulatory burden it must meet to shift its prices puts it at a disadvantage. Noel contends the company remains a near-monopoly and cannot be permitted to exist unchecked.

Suzanne Goldberg, a D.C.-based psychologist, urged the commission in a 2007 letter to reject Verizon’s deregulation plan, arguing there is “no competition to provide alternative service locally and therefore no incentive for Verizon to keep their fees manageable for consumers.”

A Verizon spokeswoman declined comment on the settlement.

mneibauer@dcexaminer.com