Qwest can raise the price of its basic home phone service from $14.88 a month to $16.52, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission said Thursday.
Additionally, the PUC raised the telecom’s rate cap to $17 a month, before taxes and fees, opening the door for Qwest to raise its base price again a year from now.
The monthly cap — the maximum Qwest can charge for its bottom-line phone service — had been $14.88.
The increases are less than the Denver-based company had sought. Qwest asked permission to hike the price on stand-alone landline service to $16.99, with a cap of $18.25.
The new rates will affect about half of Qwest’s residential landline customers in Colorado, or roughly 500,000 homes. Customers who have a bundle of services with Qwest, or a package of features such as voicemail, call-waiting and caller-ID with their phone line, will not be affected.
The PUC will issue a written order by Aug. 3, allowing for appeals to be filed.
The decision allows Qwest to hike rates immediately to $16.52, though it must inform the PUC and give customers 30 days notice. It would be Qwest’s first price hike on basic phone service in 14 years.
“If Qwest raises its residential rate to ($16.52), the increase will equal the 11 percent increase in national average prices since 1995, when the Colorado legislature froze basic residential rates at $14.88,” the PUC said in a prepared statement.
Colorado lawmakers passed a bill last year that included a provision to allow Qwest to seek a rate increase.
“Qwest has not raised rates for a basic, no-features residential phone line in 14 years, even though prices for normal consumer goods and services have risen over that time, along with the costs to provide them,” Qwest spokeswoman Johnna Hoff said. “We continue to advocate that pricing should be driven by market conditions.”
The state Office of Consumer Counsel and PUC staff had urged PUC commissioners to deny Qwest’s rate hike.
Andy Vuong: 303-954-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com
