Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 38, September 20, 2024
a) Billing Procedures
Bills to customers shall be issued on a monthly basis. Bills shall
be itemized as set forth in subsection (b) of this Section.
b) Itemization of Charges
1) All bills for residential and single-line
business customers shall contain an itemization of charges. Itemization of every
monthly billing shall include, but not be limited to:
A) exchange access (basic local service) as
requested by customer;
B) local
service;
C) extended area
service;
D) equipment;
E) enhanced and other local services;
F) the period of time for which the local service
and equipment charges apply;
G) if a
local exchange company has assumed responsibility of collection for toll calls, it
shall include an itemization of all toll calls charged to the account including, but
not limited to the date and time of the call, the rate which applied to the call,
the length of the call in minutes, the destination of the call, or point of origin
for collect and/or third party calls;
H)
the phone number of the appropriate company business office;
I) the due date of the bill; and
J) the separate listing of the following:
i) additional charges due to state messages
tax,
ii) municipal messages
tax,
iii) municipal consumer tax,
and
iv) federal excise tax.
2) Upon request, a company
shall provide its customers with an itemization of service and equipment charges
(but excluding message unit charges, as provided for in the company's tariff) once
every calendar year free of charge. This itemization shall also include the phone
number of the local company business office which the customer may contact to
receive further information concerning the service and equipment charges listed on
such itemization.
3) Where a company is
able to provide an itemized billing for local message detail, the customer may
request the company to provide such message unit detail for one billing period free
of charge one time every six months or if a dispute exists as to the accuracy of the
bill. This waiver of charges shall not apply to customers who contract with the
company for monthly message detail.
c) Delivery of Bills
Customer bills sent through the United State mail shall be in
envelopes and shall include return envelopes for payment of customer bills, unless
the customer has elected to pay the bill electronically.
d) Transferring Billing for Past Due Service
Charges for business service shall not be transferred to a bill for
residential service, nor shall charges for residential service be transferred to a
bill for business service. A company may transfer billing to another account of the
same customer of the same class (business or residential) when a final bill remains
unpaid after the due date.
e)
Adjustments for Interrupted Service
In the event that a customer's basic (i.e., residence, business,
Private Branch Exchange (PBX)) service is interrupted and remains out of service for
more than 12 hours after being reported to or found to be out of service by a
company, appropriate adjustments shall be made to the customer's account upon
request with a minimum of credit for 24 hours. The adjustment shall be the pro rata
part of the month's charge for local exchange service for the period of days service
was inoperative and shall be accomplished by a credit on a subsequent bill for
telephone service. A check shall be issued if the final bill shows no amount owed.
This provision shall not apply when the service interruption is caused by:
1) the negligence or willful act of the
customer,
2) customer provided
facilities, or
3) electric power failure
where the customer furnishes such electric power.
f) Third Number Billing
On third number calls the operator may attempt to verify the
authority to bill to the third number by calling the third number to get permission
to bill the call to that number. Any third number calls that are billed to but
denied by the billed party shall be removed from the bill unless these calls were
verified in accordance with this paragraph.
g) Unbilled Service
1) Bills for service supplied by a company must be
rendered within one (1) year of the date such service was supplied. No customer
shall be liable for any amount of unbilled service after one (1) year. A company is
not restricted to the above one (1) year limitation on unbilled service if a company
has reason to believe that the customer used a device or scheme to obtain service
without payment and where the company has so notified the customer prior to
disconnection.
2) When delinquency
occurs following the issuance of a bill for previously unbilled service, except
where the customer has avoided payment as described in the preceding paragraph, a
company shall review the bill with the customer, and shall offer to accept payments
toward the liquidation of the amount of unbilled service over a period mutually
agreed to by the company and customer. This period of time shall be at least as long
as the period over which the unbilled or underbilled service was provided.
h) Refunds
1) In the event that a customer pays a bill as
submitted by a telephone utility and the billing is later found to be incorrect due
to an error either in charging more than the published rate, in measuring the
quantity or volume of service provided, or in charging for the incorrect class of
service, the utility shall refund the overcharge with interest from the date of
overpayment by the customer.
2) The rate
of interest shall be the rate as established by the Commission to be paid on
deposits in Section
735.120(h) (1)
of this Part.
3) The refund shall be accomplished by a credit on
a subsequent bill for telephone service, or by check if the account is final, or if
so requested by the customer.
i) Special Toll Bills
1) If a customer accumulates unusually high
charges for toll calls in a short period of time, and that customer's credit record
indicates that satisfactory payment may not be made on this amount, a company may
issue a special toll bill. Such special toll bills shall be due ten (10) days from
the issuing date of the bill, seven (7) days if delivered by hand.
2) A company may render a special toll bill to a
residential customer only during the first twenty-four (24) months of that
customer's telephone service. No such limitation, however, shall be imposed in the
case of business customers.
3) For the
purpose of this subsection (i), an unusually high toll bill shall be considered to
be an amount in excess of 175 percent of the average of the past three months' toll
bills or an average toll bill for that class of service if three months' actual data
is not available.
j)
Electronic Billing and Payment
If the company offers electronic billing, customers may elect to
have their bills sent electronically. Such bills shall be transmitted with
instructions for payment. Information sent electronically shall be deemed to satisfy
any requirement in this Part that such information be printed or written on a
customer bill. Bills rendered in accordance with this Section may be paid
electronically.
